


Nothing Breaks Like A Heart

by charmed92



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, F/M, Heartbreak, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mentions of Domestical Abuse, Non-Canon Relationship, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-27
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2019-11-06 12:14:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 64,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17939498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charmed92/pseuds/charmed92
Summary: December 1978. Lily Evans, the soon-to-be Mrs. James Potter, realizes that she is in love with her former best friend, Severus Snape. His marriage announcement to the beautiful Olivia Fawley crushes her. Will she manage to overcome this heartbreak? And how did Severus manage to find love again? AU, Marauders Time





	1. Prologue – Ice Cream can't heal all heartbreaks!

**Author's Note:**

> This story is rated M because it contains adult language, themes, and suggestions. It is non-canon, AU and plays in the Marauders Time.
> 
> I don't own any characters, they all belong to J.K. Rowling.

Lily's flat, Kensington, Muggle London, December 1978

Lily Evans stared angrily at the front page of the Daily Prophet. Normally, she could only laugh about the insane head-lines and false gossip stories that this yellow press paper produced. But despite the lies and bad journalism, she read it every day to keep up to date with the going-ons in the Wizarding world. Although the insane maniac Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters were currently terrorizing the Magical world with their attacks on Muggle-borns, raidings of Muggle villages and destroying of shops in Diagon Alley, the Daily Prophet played these attacks down and wanted to reassure their readers of the strength of the Ministry of Magic and their law enforcement. Instead of reporting every life lost and every newly developed dark spell and poison so that the magical citizens could raise their vigilance and protect themselves with countercurses and antidotes against the Death Eaters, they wrote stories about the Wizarding upper-class and the bureaucratic new laws of the Ministry. Lily shook her head. No wonder that the Order hadn't enough supporters and members when the majority of the wizards and witches closed their eyes to the beginning war in their world.

But Lily's ire wasn't directed at the dreadful journalism of the Daily Prophet today. If she could burn a hole into the paper with her eyes, it would have already combusted into ashes. The headline read in big bold letters "Love match of the decade – Prince heir and Fawley heiress wed" and featured a beautiful black-and-white picture of a stunning bride and a handsome groom. In the moving picture, they were embracing each other tightly and laughing in the camera. From time to time, they caressed each other's arms and faces. The bride, Olivia Fawley, looked breathtaking in a cream-colored, lace, mermaid wedding dress that fitted her figure like a second skin and emphasized her super-model curves. Her diamond jewelry sparkled in the winter sun and her beautiful flower bouquet of roses, chrysanthemums, and belladonnas looked freshly picked. But the most stunning feature of the bride wasn't her dress, jewelry or huge diamond wedding ring, it was her beaming smile and look of absolute happiness and love. She looked so in love with her husband that it broke Lily's heart. For the handsome groom in his fitted black suit, white dress shirt, and grey waistcoat that beamed at his wife in pure bliss and love was her ex-best friend, Severus Tobias Prince.

Seeing him caressing the rosy face of his supermodel bride, putting a loose honey-blonde curl behind her ear, whispering sweet nothingness in her ear and embracing her tightly around her waist, shattered her heart into million pieces. She would have never expected to see him looking so in love and carefree in front of a camera. If she didn't know for sure that this handsome happy groom was the angry, socially awkward, gangly, teen Severus Snape, she wouldn't have believed it. His normally unkempt greasy black locks looked glossy and smooth, his pasty spot-littered skin porcelain and spot free and his yellow crooked teeth pearly white and straight. He had trained his gangly svelte form into a muscular figure in their sixth year and dressed in fashionable clothes ever since. He looked so far away from the neglected boy of Spinner's End with the lonely obsidian eyes, pitted clothes and low self-esteem, that it nearly blew Lily's mind.

Some part of her was proud that he had managed to defeat his dark inner demons, escape the poverty and abuse of Spinner's End and battle his self-confidence issues. He had been devastated after their fall-out in their fifth year, begging her to be his friend again and not leaving him to a world of despair and loneliness. Although his huge puppy eyes, tear-stricken face and anguished voice had nearly compelled her to forgive him, she couldn't forget his insult. Mudblood. It was the vilest name to call someone of Muggle heritage in the Magical world, for it abased a human being based on their blood status and classified her as some freak even inside the Magical world. This insult had cut her to the quick and combined with his dark friends and his obsessive studies in the Dark Arts she couldn't accept his apology and be his friend anymore. In the meadows down by the park so many years ago, he had promised her that having non-magical parents wasn't an issue in the Magical world. He had discouraged her fears of being not fully accepted in both worlds with a simple "It makes no difference" and given her the feeling that he was the only one who understood her fully.

Hence, this betrayal out of shame, humiliation, and anger destroyed her trust in him and turned her image of her best male friend upside down. She knew that Severus could be impulsive, bad-tempered and proud, but she hadn't known that he could be cruel to her. He obviously had wanted to cut her the deepest and he had succeeded with it. Merlin, she knew that she should have defended him more against the Marauders' who had bullied him relentlessly four on one and her Gryffindor girlfriends who had looked at him as if he was scum on their shoes, but she had desperately wanted to be popular and fit in at Hogwarts. If distancing herself from her childhood friend, questioning his obsession with the Dark Arts and laughing at some jokes of the Marauders' was the way to achieve it, she had to go along. Replaying this terrible day by the lake again in her mind, she realized that she stepped in after it was too late and after the beginning of a smile had graced her lips. In Severus's eyes, it must have seemed like she was laughing at him, tormenting him with his bullies and letting her closest friend suffer in humiliation.

She could understand that he needed to lash out at her now. She hadn't been an innocent shinning angel on this day and she wished that she could take the uplifting of her lips back. Hell, she wished that she had accepted his apology and became his friend again, for Severus had been the most important person in her life. Seeing him so devasted and in pain because of her unforgivable nature, let a thousand pieces break inside of her heart. But she had been a stupid shallow schoolgirl whose girlfriends adviced her to cut all ties with her childhood friend. They had warned her that he would only pull her onto a dark path with his dark curses, desperately seek for approval and abusive family background. She was so naïve to listen to them, believe in James's and Sirius's accusations of him being a Death Eater in the making and write him off as a lost cause. Although she had missed him like mad and cried into her pillow every night for several weeks, hidden under a Silencing Spell so that nobody could hear her heart-wrenching sobs, she had learned to live without him. But the hole inside of her heart, the memories of their silly childhood games and juvenile adventures, hunted her till today. She even wore his gift to her sixteenth birthday, a delicate silver necklace with a doe charm, hidden under a glamour every day.

She knew that she had nearly broken Severus, for he had been depressed and aggressive for some weeks following their friendship break-up. He hadn't bothered to show up in many classes, started more fights with the Marauders and broadcasted an "I don't care" attitude. Only the intervention of Madame Pomfrey and Olivia Fawley had saved him from getting addicted to the Dark Arts and throwing away his life. Ironically enough, his break-down after their failed friendship had been the starting point of the great love story between him and Olivia. Olivia Fawley, a rich pure-blooded Ravenclaw mastermind, had been his godsend. She had helped Madame Pomfrey in the hospital wing, founded a debate club in Hogwarts and was a genius in Charms and Herbology. Besides her kind nature and keen mind, she looked like a supermodel – honey-blond long beach weaves, captivating chocolate brown eyes, luscious rosy lips, Greek goddess-like facial features, and an hour-glass body to kill for. She had been the wet dream of many boys at Hogwarts and the envy of many girls because she dressed in fashionable, expensive clothes and traveled around the world during the hols. She was Mother Teresa and Venus in one strong witch's body and had a secret crush on Severus Snape since their fourth year.

Lily had noticed how she blushed pink at him whenever she helped Madame Pomfrey treat his injuries, tried to cheer him up with a funny story and complimented him during their study sessions in the library for his quick wit and brilliant mind. Merlin, she had been so obvious when she glanced in awe at him with her huge doe eyes, tried to move closer to him while studying a Charms tome and even gifted him a new Slytherin scarf for Christmas. Naturally, Severus had been oblivious to her subtle attempts at flirting and cut off her personal questions with snarky remarks. He had only had eyes for his books and his best friend, although he had included Olivia in his close-knitted group of friends and even gifted her a self-brewed Laughing Potion for Christmas after he had shyly accepted her present. Lily had been aware that Olivia wrote to him during the hols and spend some Hogsmeade visits with him in Hogwarts debating the merits of Herbology and talking about the useful knowledge of the Dark Arts.

Olivia's plus as a friend to Severus was that she didn't judge him for his interest in the Dark Arts, encouraged him to train his Potions and Mind Magic abilities and even comforted him without asking questions when he had been in a bad temper or depressed. Lily had regarded their slowly forming bond with jealousy, for she had been the center of Severus's universe before Olivia decided to make a move on him. Naturally, Olivia didn't really approach Severus on a romantical level, for she was quite shy and didn't want to risk their tentative friendship by blurting out her feelings to him. With ire and envy, Lily noticed how she wormed her way into Severus's heart. She had gifted him a new Potions set to his sixteenth birthday or asked him for tutelage in Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts in exchange for galleons because she wanted to become an excellent Healer and needed high grades in these courses. By quitting her friendship with Severus, Lily had basically cleared the field for her. Although she could nowadays acknowledge in the deepest hidden places of her heart that she loved Severus, she had written him off as her awkward best friend turned first kiss in her teenaged years that choose the wrong path and wasn't worth fighting for. He had hurt her deeply and she hadn't been able to see the gentle soul of the boy in the angry teen. How wrong she had been to ban him of her life.

She would have never guessed that he could become this self-confident, strong and happy wizard that worked as a strategist for the Order and cut all ties with his Slytherin friends. Especially not after she had dealt him the blow of ending their friendship. But Severus had risen out of the ashes like a true phoenix with the help of his mum, his girlfriend, and his brilliant mind. Lily didn't know the details of his romance with Olivia, but she suspected that she must have encouraged him to distance himself from the bigotted Slytherin Pure-bloods who only looked down at him and wanted to use him in their evil plans for the Wizarding world, appealed to his thirst for knowledge and academic brilliance so that he advanced his studies more than ever and focused all his energies on creating new potions and spells and suggested a physical and emotional make-over for him that resulted in a glossy-haired, white teeth sporting and spotless Severus walking back into Hogwarts in their sixth year. Suddenly, he walked through Hogwarts with a confident regal walk instead of shuffling through the corridor with hunched shoulders, kept his temper in check whenever the Marauders attacked him instead of lashing out at them and integrated himself in a mixed-houses group of friends instead of hiding lonely under a tree.

Several students rubbed their eyes in disbelief, when he helped bullied underclassmen, laughed carefree with his friends and even went to Hogsmeade wearing stylish black slacks and a dark green dress shirt. After the winter hols, it had become obvious that he was dating Olivia. They walked hand-in-hand through the corridors, pecked each other on the lips and searched the closeness of each other. They became the most gossiped about couple at Hogwarts and their love for each other was a topic that made many girls swoon and many boys roll their eyes. The first time she had seen them kissing behind an armor, she had felt a deep stab in her heart, for she couldn't chase away her romantic feelings for her ex-best friend. In a way, seeing him with another girl opened up her eyes for what a catch he truly was and how much he meant to her, but Lily knew that she couldn't win his love at Hogwarts and destroy his happiness. She had never before seen him so happy, self-confident and in love that she decided to not intervene with his happiness. She squashed her feelings for him, got closer to the Marauders and developed a crush on James Potter. Severus and Olivia had floored her when they announced their department to the United States to study at the Merlin University in New York City. They had achieved their N.E.W.T.'s with flying colors one year early and both received a studentship in the USA. While Severus took a degree in Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts, Olivia studied at the medical school to become a Healer.

Lily had tried to part with Severus on good terms, but she was too cowardly to write him a letter or request a meeting. Besides that, her mum had informed her that Tobias Snape had moved away to Leeds and Eileen had returned with Severus to her pure-blooded parents in their sixth year. Hence, she couldn't encounter him at his home in Cokeworth and say goodbye. Therefore, she had bid farewell to him in her mind, focussed herself on gaining supreme N.E.W.T.'s in Charms and thrown herself in a whirlwind romance with James. Merlin, she had even accepted his marriage proposal in front of the whole school on their graduation day at Hogwarts, because she didn't want to embarrass him with a "no" and thought that he was the ideal husband for her. Perhaps, the fact that she had read about the engagement of Severus and Olivia two months before, did play a role in her decision.

She had nearly crumbled the Daily Prophet, spilled her orange juice over the Gryffindor table and let out a shocked scream. Thankfully, she had distracted the curious onlooking students by citing that she had misread the headlines and thought that there had been a Death Eater attack in Cokeworth. Her excellent acting skills had helped her out on that, albeit she felt like crying her eyes out and cursing Merlin for her missed chance at love. Seeing Severus and Olivia smiling at her as newlyweds, Lily realized that the pain in her heart didn't go away. Her heart felt broken all over again, for she had built a dream world in her mind where Olivia and Severus wouldn't walk down the aisle and live happily ever after. She hoped that her broken heart could be healed by her favorite walnut ice cream and fetched one cup from her freezer. Gulping it down in big spoons, it began to dawn on her that ice cream couldn't heal all heartbreaks.


	2. Chapter 1 – Heartbreaks can be the window to a world full of love!

Master Bedroom, Prince Cottage, Cornwall, December 1978

Severus Prince embraced his naked Sleeping Beauty tightly. He couldn't fathom that he could call this intelligent, stunning, kind and funny woman in his arms his wife. It was as if Merlin had made all of his naïve, and ambitious boyhood dreams come true. He loved and was loved in return by the love of his life, Olivia Fawley, who turned the head of nearly every man with her long, slender, supermodel legs, honey-blonde, voluminous looks, captivating, chocolate brown eyes, and womanly curves, and was admired by nearly every woman for her caring nature, sweet personality and ambitious career goals. Playing with her soft curls, he couldn't believe that he had nearly thrown his happiness away, and let the love of his life slip through his fingers due to some unhealthy teenaged, obsession with his female ex-best friend.

He had been so silly at sixteen, devasted by the downfall of his oldest friendship, and the loss of his boyhood crush. Merlin, he had nearly thrown away his future by skipping classes, refusing to eat and drink probably, dueling the stupid Marauders one on four and joining a terroristic inhuman racist group. In the first few weeks after the "Mudblood incident", he had been reduced to a depressed, desperate and angry teen that hadn't cared if the world went down tomorrow or if he died while stumbling through the Forbidden Forrest in a drunken stupor. He had put Lily on such a high pedestal, worshipped her walking ground and idealized her personality and beauty that he had been absolutely convinced that he wouldn't be able to survive without her in his life. Hell, in his desperate mindset, he had already fucked up his life, switched his light and joy out in a pool of darkness, and drowned his despair in the Dark Arts and Fire Whiskey. Only an intervention from his beautiful angel, Olivia, had saved his life.

She had confronted his drunken ass in an empty classroom in the Hogwarts dungeons. How she had managed to find him was a mystery to him, for he practically lived in the dungeons like a ghost. She must have searched every room for his sorry ass, desperate to save him from himself, and show him a way out of his dark, self-destructive downward spiral. He remembered the shocked look on her beautiful face clearly as she found him hunched over a table, sobbing in despair, and using a newly developed Cutting Curse on his arms. She had stormed into the dusted classroom, disarmed his wand and rushed to his side, embracing him tightly and mumbling a Healing Spell. Her rosy cheeks were pale, and her chocolate-brown eyes shared his pain. At first, he had tried to escape her embrace, scold her for her daring move and throw her out of his security place. How dare she disarm him, see him at his most vulnerable moment and cuddle him like a teddy bear?

A menacing thought to cut her to the quick, insult her caring nature and make fun of her raced through his mind. He wanted to regain his self-control, save his face and erase this weak moment from his mind. An evil voice that sounded suspiciously like his abusive, magic-hating and alcoholic bastard of a father, screamed at him to stop his embarrassing sobs, reject her comfort and hurt her with some snarky remarks. But gazing in her honest brown eyes, basking in the warmth of her embrace and hearing her soothing words that everything would turn out all right, his snide comments had died down on his tongue and he had tightened his grip around her. Staying in their close embrace for what felt like an eternity, he felt that this beautiful, genius young woman would change his life for the better.

She had berated him for his self-destructive behavior and self-harm, called Lily a shallow mean girl for cutting him out of her life and not accepting his apology and assured him that she would be his friend forever. She would help him battle his depression and self-confidence issues for she knew that he had a kind heart, and could conquer everything, kick him in his ass to attend classes and study hard for she knew that he had a mastermind that could change the world if he didn't drown it in alcohol, and talk about his fears and dreams for she knew that he needed to face them to get his life back on track, and see that his life wasn't already fucked up. She promised him to never leave him or think the worst of him. And although Severus agreed to her daily evening talks reluctantly because he didn't like to show his vulnerable side to anyone and talk about his feelings, he noticed very fast that their daily chats lightened his heart, and brightened his soul. He learned that it was okay to cry, lash out in anger or jump out of joy. And he slowly realized that his broken friendship with Lily wasn't the end of his life.

Merlin, he had realized in their talks about love, friendship and happiness that he hadn't been in love with Lily, he had been obsessed with her. If Olivia hadn't opened up his eyes, he probably would have worshipped Lily from a distance, stalked her at Hogwarts and joined the Death Eaters to impress her. For he had envisioned in his hormone-riddled, obsessed mind that he could make Lily fall in love with him if he was powerful, respected/feared by his teenaged bullies and had many Galleons inside of his Gringotts account. Thankfully, Olivia read out every newspaper article about the crimes and atrocities the Death Eater's had committed to him, asked him if he wanted to rip his soul with murder, torture, and rape and pointed out the consequences of Lord Voldemort's racist agenda to him. He would have ended up as a cruel soulless slave of a sadistic insane dictator who wasn't able to feel love, happiness, and joy if he hadn't had Olivia in his life. He would have been consumed by his darkness and become an evil dark wizard because he had been obsessed with a girl who could wash her hands off him easily and was seduced by his hunger for love and power.

Olivia had become his new light and best friend. She encouraged him to intensify his studies in the Mind Arts, his knowledge in the Dark Arts and his experiments in Potions, to distance himself from his pureblood supremacist Slytherin housemates who wanted to use him as a tool on Voldemort's side and to dispel his anger and frustration in physical training. She had transformed a broken chair into a punching bag and two sponges into boxing gloves, goading him into letting his anger out on the Marauders in a healthy way and building up some muscles. In the Summer Hols, he steeled his body due to boxing and running because he needed to escape the constant shouting matches inside of his home and Tobias's toxic anger. He noticed that he could free his mind from his heartbreak, sorrows, and self-doubts during his training, focus on new ideas for spells and potions and gain a sixpack in the process. He felt more energized, happier and comfortable in his own skin. His self-confidence got a boost and he didn't feel so pessimistic about his future anymore.

Being alone in the despair and darkness of Spinner's End, Severus only survived thanks to Olivia's Patronus messages and lengthy letters that he needed to intercept carefully because Tobias freaked out whenever an owl approached their house. Seeing her lovely snowl owl Patronus waiting for him every day by his bed, put a smile on his face and let him see positive in the future. They corresponded via the Patronus messenger various times during the day to chat about their studies, daily adventures and plans for the future. Although he needed to focus all of his positive memories to conjure his crow Patronus, he realized with practice and time that he could cast it more easily when he focused on memories of his mother's embraces during his childhood as well as Olivia's tight hugs, happy laughs and encouraging talks in his most desperate times. He admired Olivia's positive spirit, her huge heart, and her fiery personality. If he had been totally honest with himself as a sixteen-years-old and acknowledged his feelings, he would have realized that he had fallen in love with this stunning, intelligent and kind young woman. He lived for her Patronus messages, dreamed about a happy family life with her and some medical breakthroughs they could achieve in the Wizarding world. But he hadn't the courage to confess his feelings to her because he couldn't imagine that this perfect English rose could fall in love with some self-destructive, poor loser.

Sure, he had improved his looks thanks to his workouts and his upgraded hygiene procedures, but he still was settled with his hooked nose and sourly sarcastic personality. How could an angel like Olivia ever fall in love with a penniless, moody fool like him? He had believed that she would fall in love with some wealthy studious Ravenclaw, spend all her time with him and forget about her best male friend. Although he knew that money wasn't important to her, and that she wouldn't select her boyfriend based on his blood status or bank account, his internalized inferior complex wrote him off as boyfriend material. He had never decoded the meaning behind her lingering looks, blushing cheeks or tight hugs. When she had kissed him on the cheek or snuggled closely on his chest, he had convinced himself that she was this affectionate with him to cheer him up and signal to him that she would always be there for him. She must have noticed his touches and love-starved body and decided to be his comfort board. Hell, even when she had invited him to Fawley Manor to spend their last two weeks of Summer Hols together, and go shopping with her in Diagon Alley, he had thought that she was only a generous friend who wanted to help him out because his mother couldn't go shopping with him without facing Tobias's wrath.

Naturally, Severus had been overjoyed to leave the despair of Spinner's End behind him for two weeks, albeit he feared for the safety and health of his mum. Hence, he had cast several protection spells on a talisman and gifted it to her before his departure to keep her safe from Tobias's abusive hands. He loved his mum, wanted to protect her and wished that she would send her abusive, alcoholic and sadistic Muggle husband to the curbs. But thanks to a mix of fear, depression, hopelessness and old happy memories, she refused to leave Tobias and to return to the Wizarding world. She stated that Tobias loved her and that she couldn't survive without him. Besides that, Tobias had broken her wand to protect her from the dark forces of the Magical world, and she couldn't return to her parents due to her run-away scandal and the shame of being an abused woman. Severus hoped that she would see reason soon and contact her parents because he feared that she wouldn't survive another year of Tobias's abuse.

Although he had accepted Olivia's kind offer, he had felt self-conscious, and nervous to meet her parents and spend two weeks in a huge ancient manor. What would her wealthy, cultured father, Robert Fawley, who owned a huge Wizarding law firm, think of an awkward teenaged boy dressed in tattered clothes, and with a fascination for the Dark Arts? What would her beautiful, kind-hearted mother Emilia Fawley, nèe Macmillian, who wrote a politics column in the Daily Prophet, think of a socially awkward, sarcastic, teenaged boy? He couldn't sleep before his departure to Fawley Manor via Floo, plagued by awful nightmares about disgusted looks by Olivia's parents and the beaten body of his beloved mum. His mother had managed to install a secretive Floo connection in the fireplace at Spinner's End long before Tobias had been aware of the Magical world. His bastard of a father had never been aware of this transport option in the Wizarding world, therefore Severus could use their Floo connection in the early hours of a beautiful summer day. He had stepped into his fireplace dressed in his best slacks and a black t-shirt, carrying his old trunk packed with his favorite books, threadbare clothes and old potions set, and nearly dying with the anticipation of seeing his beautiful best friend again and meeting her parents.

To his utter disbelief, Olivia awaited him with a huge smile on her face, jumped into his arms and calmed down his buzzing nerves with gentle caresses. Embracing her tightly, breathing in her roses and vanilla scent and hearing her fast-beating heart, he felt as if he could conquer the world, and fulfill his dreams. She intertwined their fingers, teased him about his Quidditch player body and guided him into her beautiful, classical decorated manor. She introduced him to her mum, Emilia, a stunning brunette woman with almond eyes in her late thirties, who welcomed him with a warm smile and praise for his extraordinary achievements in Potions. Seeing her honest, chocolate brown eyes and listening to her animated stories about her Hogwarts' adventures with her Ravenclaw friends, Severus realized that she didn't judge him for his simple clothes or impoverished upbringing. She treated him like an ordinary boy who was her daughter's best friend and peppered him with questions about his free time habits and potions experiments, until Olivia freed him from her curious nature, rolling her eyes and reprimanding her mum for her inquisition methods, and guided him to their guest room, a dark grey and forest green decorated room beside her bedroom that would be his place to stay.

She apologized for her mum's questions, admitting that she had been curious to get to know her daughter's best male friend with a blush and helped him to unpack his things. She promised him to work on some Potions experiments together in their private lab, invent some new spells in their rose garden and go swimming in their lake. She showed him around in her room, a girl's dream come true in lavender and cream with huge bookshelves, a reading corner, and a dancing area, and invited him to lay down on her comfy four-poster bed, snuggling into his side with a beaming smile on her face. They talked about their school work, experiments, difficulties of being underaged magical teenagers and their home lives for hours, until a young, sheepish-looking house-elf called them to dinner. Walking into the spacious dining room joking with each other, Severus was approached by the kind face and outstretched hand of Robert Fawley, a blonde-haired man in his late thirties with piercing blue eyes, who welcomed him into his home, thanked him for balancing out the share of Slytherins and Ravenclaws in his house and asked him if Professor Slughorn still hosted his pompous Slug club parties. During the dinner, they talked amicably, laughed about stories of their Hogwarts' adventures and Mr. Fawley's attempts at wooing his wife in their seventh year.

After their delicious dinner, Mr. Fawley guided Severus into his private study under the pretext of showing him pictures of his time in Slytherin and valuable magical objects. Severus was suspicious of his motives to talk with him alone, feared that he would get a typical protective dad speech of not getting romantically involved with his daughter and questioning his intentions, when Mr. Fawley floored him with the news that he had been a good friend of his mum Eileen at Hogwarts and had been approached by his grandparents, Aurelius, and Lucretia Prince, to search for her in the Muggle world. They wanted to reconnect with their daughter, get to know their grandson and finance his education. Severus had been shocked to hear that his mum had run away at nineteen to escape an arranged marriage with the widowed Abraxas Malfoy, hidden in the Muggle world and broken off all contact with her family. Mr. Fawley reassured him that his grandparents searched desperately for her, welcomed her home with open arms and wanted to see her and their grandson live happy lives. He hadn't been able to track down Eileen in the Muggle world, because his owls had returned unanswered and he couldn't trace her magical signature anywhere.

Severus explained to him with a heavy heart that his bastard of a father had broken Eileen's wand after he had learned of the Magical world thanks to his accidental magic, forbidden her to contact her parents and banned her from practicing the devil's art. He confessed in a broken, tear-stricken voice that the Muggle bastard Tobias abused Eileen physically and verbally, reduced her to a desperate hopeless shell and bound her to him via empty love declarations and death threats. She couldn't escape her hellish life alone. Mr. Fawley had listened to his story with a troubled face, and a determined look in his sapphire eyes and promised him to help his mum. This Summer Holidays at the Fawleys' changed his life for the better, for his mum was encouraged by Mr. Fawley to leave her abusive husband, and reconnect with her family so that they moved back into Prince Manor and obliviated Tobias's memories. And he fell more deeply in love with Olivia.

Being wrenched from his memories by the gentle kisses of his beautiful wife on his chest, Severus pulled her up on his body, kissed her passionately on the lips and whispered into her ear, "Good morning, beautiful. I hope you hadn't any plans for today, because I want to make love to you the whole day long." Chuckling at her playful laugh and her lustful chocolate brown eyes, he flipped them around and worshipped every centimeter of her skin with soft kisses, intoxicated by her sexy moans and the love shining in her eyes.


	3. Chapter 2 – Heartbreak can throw you into a hellish life!

Rose Garden, Prince Manor, December 1978

Eileen Prince sat with a wistful look on her face in her parents' Rose Garden. She had loved chasing around the trees, smelling all the pleasing, different rose bushes, and playing hide-and-seek with her house-elves as a kid. She had desperately wished for a play mate to join her, but her parents sadly hadn't been able to conceive any new babies, and due to their sheltered, secluded life, she hadn't got any friends till she went to Hogwarts. Her father, Aurelius Prince, was the CEO of their ancient, famous Potions company, Prince Potions, but he wasn't a social butterfly that threw huge Winter Balls or Summer Picnics at his Manor. He loved his silent, academic life and assigned the task to organize publicity-gaining, social events to his beloved wife Lucretia Prince, née Shaqif. But he only allowed her to host them outside of Prince Manor, for he didn't want to let anyone into his private, safe haven. Her mother, Lucretia Prince, was a kind-hearted, bubbly, Herbology genius who charmed every boy at Hogwarts with her captivating, mysterious, onyx eyes and her unruly, dark-brown curls. She had been the captain of the Gobstone Club at Hogwarts and fallen in love with her intelligent, dark-haired classmate Aurelius Prince while harvesting exotic flowers in the greenhouses.

They had been the Hogwarts it-couple of their time – two rich, good-looking, Pure-blooded teenagers from ancient and noble families in love, and with high hopes for their future. The sarcastic, Slytherin Potions expert, Aurelius, and the charming, Ravenclaw Herbology genius, Lucretia, experimented relentlessly on new potions and ways to improve and shorten the brewing process of expensive and difficult potions. Whereas Lucretia researched new ways on how and when to harvest ingredients, Aurelius studied ancient brewing techniques and methods on how to prolong the storage life of brews. Together, they developed new potions recipes and invented numerable Healing Potions and Antidotes that cured Chicken Pox, replenished your blood more quickly or blocked snake venom inside of your veins. They were the academic power couple of the thirties and Eileen's birth made their family perfect. Her parents had been very hands-on, attentive, and kind parents who taught her how to harvest flowers, brew potions and treat everyone with kindness, respect, and politeness. But Eileen had been a shy girl, always trying to make her parents proud of her by writing down her own creative potions recipes by six, reading every book in their library till thirteen, and winning every Gobstone match at Hogwarts.

The lack of playmates and her sheltered, academic upbringing turned her into a socially awkward, insecure, and unique outsider at Hogwarts. Whereas other girls in Slytherin loved to gossip about boys, discuss the newest Make-up Spells and fashion trends or cheer their Quidditch team on, Eileen loved to play Gobstones, read books in the Hogwarts library, and duel in an empty classroom. She had a close-knitted group of Slytherin friends – Robert Fawley, David Avery, Regina Nott, and Angelina Zabini – who visited her in the Summer Hols, studied with her in the library and chatted with her about their hopes and fears. But Eileen sometimes still felt like a passive bystander who let all the fun and adventures of life rush past her. She had mapped her whole future out at fifteen – studying in her dad's company Prince Potions to be a Potions Mistress, inventing new, revolutionary potions in the lab, and marrying the love of her life. But her plans went all crashing down when she fell in love with her fellow Slytherin Prefect and Quidditch captain, Orion Black, in their fifth year. Eileen had had a secret crush on Orion thanks to his captivating blue eyes, handsome smile, and unruly, dark-brown locks since her third year, but Orion had never been a member of her close group of Slytherin friends, because unlike them, he loved to party, boast about his Quidditch moves or prank the Gryffindors. He always seemed too cool, fun-loving, arrogant, and cocky to befriend his Slytherin yearmates and hung out with the older Slytherins.

Eileen knew that her crush on him was pointless, silly and shallow because Orion only noticed her when she beat him with a victorious smirk in a duel or helped him to not explode his cauldron in Potions, and cost them many points. She realized that Orion only flirted with outspoken, sexy, beautiful, and fun-loving, older Slytherin girls. She, with her shy nature, study-focused mindset, and Snow white looks, wasn't his type. Besides that, she knew from Regina Nott that Orion was engaged to his older female cousin, Walburga Black, a rich, mean girl with nasty hexes under her sleeve and a volatile temper, since he had been ten years old. Eileen had wrinkled her nose in disgust at the evident incest of the upper Pure-bloods and regretted that the Blacks didn't know anything about genetics or they wouldn't put their slogan Toujours Pur above the health, magical power, and sanity of their offsprings. Eileen had tried to cure herself of her unhealthy crush with an "All the things that are wrong about Orion Black"-list in her secret diary that only opened to her magical signature and appeared to be an empty notebook for anyone else. But she hadn't been able to heal her lovesick heart.

And her beloved Potions' skills triggered the path to her heartbreak further. Orion was such a fumbling dunderhead in Potions that he nearly melted one cauldron every month. Somehow, he seemed to be unable to read the brewing instructions correctly, follow them in the right order and prepare the ingredients with efficient methods. Losing countless, valuable house points and seeing Orion's handsome face plastered with some dangerous liquid, grated on Eileen's nerves and tugged on her heartstrings. She feared that Orion would kill or hurt himself badly in Potions one day, hence she guided him with non-verbal gestures and whispered words through his brewing tasks. Thankfully, Prof. Slughorn had been too preoccupied with praising her dear friend, Angelina Zabini, for her superb Potions' skills, and hadn't noticed her secretive tutoring sessions. Orion had thanked her with some handsome smiles and gifted her an expensive, new, silver cauldron engraved with her initials E.P. that she accepted reluctantly with a beaming smile.

One evening, late at night in the Slytherin Common Room, she had left her dorm dressed in a lavender, silk pajamas after curfew to drink a glass of water and encountered a devastated, crying Orion who lounged on a comfy armchair in front of the fireplace. She knew that it probably wasn't her best idea to approach him, because he would most likely lash out at her for seeing him at his most vulnerable point and throw some insults at her, but she couldn't help herself. Her stupid heart urged her to comfort him, make sure that he was all right and offer him an open ear to talk to. To her utter disbelief, Orion hadn't scolded her for lounging herself beside him on the armchair or flinched away at her comforting touch. He had only blinked away the tears in his sapphire eyes, smiled at her gratefully, and intertwined their fingers in a desperate attempt to feel some comfort and human warmth. Snuggled closely into his side with her ebony curls resting on his muscular chest, hearing his heart beat rhythmically in his breast, breathing in his unique scent of bergamot, geranium, and cedarwood, and sensing his warm breath brush her face, she felt that she couldn't cut Orion Black out of her heart.

He confessed to her in a broken voice that the pressure of achieving top marks, representing Hogwarts in dueling tournaments, being the cocky, unbeatable Quidditch Captain, and studying finances and business with the Goblins to lead his father's Black Investment Company was too much for him. He was failing Potions, hated his business studies, and felt like he would suffocate any minute. He dreamed of becoming an independent curse-breaker, living a life without the responsibilities of Black Investment, and traveling around the world. He didn't want to marry his crazy, gold-digging harpy of a female cousin, Walburga, because she drove him mad with her talk about blood purity, her worship of the Dark Arts and her sadistic personality. He confessed to her that he wasn't in love with his fiancée, found her looks and personality repulsive, and thought about playing the runaway groom if he wouldn't cause a huge scandal, lose his family and be disinherited by the Blacks.

Eileen had listened without judgment to his heart-breaking story, offered him tutoring in Potions, and encouraged him to live out his dreams. She confessed that she sometimes also cracked under the pressure of being the creative Potions genius, female dueling champion of Hogwarts, and perfect daughter. But she knew that her parents loved her and that they only wanted to see her live a happy, successful life. Hell, in her loneliest, darkest hours, she felt like an imposter, albeit, she knew deep down in her heart that creating new potions and researching new potions techniques was her calling and passion. Unlike her, Orion couldn't fulfill his dreams without enraging his family and losing everything. Feeling sorry for him, she promised to always have an open ear for him when he needed someone to talk to and to help him make his dreams come true to some extent. Perhaps, he could persuade his dad that training as a curse-breaker wouldn't be such a bad idea to keep the security standards of Black Investment up-to-date if he promised to undergo an internship in business and finances in his firm. And if he could somehow prove to his family that Walburga was a crazy harpy and incest increased the chances of birthing deformed or magical powerless children, they would possibly cancel his marriage contract.

Orion had looked at her in awe, embraced her in a fierce hug, and rambled about his happy future thanks to her ingenious ideas with a mischievous, happy glint in his baby blues. Eileen's heart had threated to jump out of her chest and she felt so carefree, beautiful, and alive in his embrace that she entertained him with silly stories of the adventures he could experience as a curse-breaker. They met twice a week for Potions coaching in an unused Potions classroom Prof. Slughorn had allocated to his Potions genius for experiments. After Eileen had pointed out to Orion that reading the recipe closely and organizing your working place were the keys for a successfully brewed potion, and explained to him the basics of Potions' theory in simple words, Orion managed to brew decent potions and receive an "Acceptable" in most of his assignments. He complimented her shamelessly for her teaching talent and teased her that she would be an excellent Potions Mistress of Hogwarts if she managed to fail Prince Potions. Eileen had hexed him for his cheek, but seeing his smug look and good-naturedly shining sapphire eyes as well as hearing his deeply rumbled laughter, she couldn't be angry at him and laughed with him.

They met thrice a week in the Common Room at night for two hours, chatting about their daily lives, studies, friends' shenanigans, Hogsmeade plans, and hobbies. Naturally, they only met in secret with a Movement Charm in place that would notify them immediately with a loud alarm when someone approached them. Eileen lived for their friendly chats, close cuddles in front of the fireplace and laughter-filled stories. Her friends remarked that she glowed lately, seemed energized and looked really happy. She rebuffed their suspicions by citing breakthroughs in her potions' experiments, and a new blueberry diet as her secrets for a happy mood and smooth skin. Nobody could know that she spent cozy nights with Orion Black in their Common Room, for it would turn her over to Walburga's wrath and put Orion in trouble with his family. Although he had accomplished that his dad supported his training as a curse-breaker, he hadn't tried his luck and asked him for an annulment of his engagement from hell because he didn't want to destabilize their fractured father-son-bond further.

Eileen fell deeper in love with Orion, especially when he gifted her a self-created amber talisman that should protect her against harm at Yule. He had presented the beautiful talisman to her with a sheepish smile, a twinkle in his sapphire eyes, and a heartfelt speech on the night before they had to depart for their Winter Hols. He had called her his best friend, thanked her for being his light in a pool of darkness and believing in him, and promised her to always be on her side. He had closed the necklace with shaky fingers around her neck, brushed her skin slightly and gave her a quick peck on her cheek. At this moment, Eileen felt like the world had stopped moving around them, stroked her cheek with a happy smile on her face, and jumped into his arms. She thanked him with a beaming smile for his beautiful gift, squeezed him tightly, and called him her kindred spirit as well as best friend. She gifted him her self-created Laughing Potion that would endow him an hour of laughter on a dark day as well as a leather wristlet charmed with runes for luck, protection, health, and companionship, blushing bright pink and vowing to always be there for him.

Orion had looked at her as if she was the most beautiful girl in the world and kissed her passionately on the lips. He admitted in an emotional voice that he had fallen in love with her and that she would make him the happiest wizard in the world if she would be his girlfriend. Overwhelmed, Eileen had returned his kiss, confessed her feelings to him, and consented with a beaming smile to be his girlfriend. They agreed that they needed to keep their romance secret till Orion had freed himself from his marriage contract, but from this night on, they interrupted their study sessions or romantic chats for some snogging and cuddling. They communicated via secret gestures or codes in the Great Hall, via mind messages in their classes and via owls or their Patronus messengers during the Hols. Whenever she saw Orion's majestic Thunderbird Patronus rush into her bedroom and heard him confess his love to her or tell her something about his latest adventures, she felt loved, happy and carefree. She cast her beautiful Unicorn Patronus thinking about his passionate kisses, handsome smiles, and sweet love declarations. Orion had organized romantic, forbidden midnight strolls around the Black Lake, secret candlelight dinners on the Astronomy Tower and passionate make-out sessions in the Room of Requirement during their sixth and seventh year.

Eileen had been so in love with him that she lost her virginity to him in the suite of a London hotel in their seventh year. All seemed to be so perfect. They received top marks in their N.E.W.T.'s, studied hard to excel in their curse-breaker training or Potions apprenticeship, snuck away on secret trips to St. Moritz, New York, and Paris and enjoyed the colorful Muggle culture by going to the cinema, the opera, museums or football games. Eileen discovered her love for Muggle arts and classical music, whereas Orion discovered his enthusiasm for football and Muggle movies. If Orion hadn't been still engaged to Walburga, their romance would have been perfect. He had even gifted her a stunning ring on their two years anniversary – a center amber stone lined by three diamonds on each side set on a simple, white-gold band engraved with their initials E.P. & O.B. and the vow Toujours l'amour – that she sadly needed to hide under a Notice-Me-Not Spell on her left ring finger with the promise of marrying her in the near future. But his engagement from hell with Walburga loomed like a Damocles sword over them, for Orion's father refused to discuss his engagement. He urged him to marry Walburga in a Spring Wedding in May 1959 and threated to burn him off their family tree if he played the runaway groom.

Orion had been devastated. He needed to make a decision between his love and his family. Eileen had reassured him that she would stand by his side, elope with him in secrecy and live a simple, happy life if he got disowned by his family. She stated that her parents would surely support their romance. Hence, she could end her apprenticeship as a Potions Mistress at Prince Potions and he could end his curse-breaker training at Gringotts and be employed in their company. Orion had vowed that he would run away from Grimmauld Place in late April 1959 after he had managed to buy a small cottage from the inheritance of his beloved grandmother and to transfer all of his money into a Muggle bank account. But somehow, the harpy Walburga must have learned from their secret romance and future plans. She didn't want to give up Orion without a fight, be the jilted bride, and embarrassed Black heiress. Hence, she created some fake magical photos of Eileen in the arms of another, staged a love affair between Eileen and a handsome Muggle she had met on a vernissage in Muggle London and seduced Orion with the help of a Love Potion and Aphrodisiacs a few days before his envisioned escape day.

To bind him to her for life, she took a potent Fertility Potion and presented a guilt-ridden, devastated Orion, who called her an insane bitch for tricking him into sleeping with her, confessed his romance with Eileen to her, and vowed to make her life a living hell, with her staged pictures of Eileen in the arms of Abraxas Malfoy and fabricated love letters between Eileen and some Muggle man named Tobias Snape, that they had met on a vernissage in a London Art gallery. She called Eileen a three-timing whore, mocked him for his naïve belief in her love declarations and lies, and his stupid decision to throw everything away for some beautiful, potions-obsessed seductress. Orion refused to believe her lies. He knew that Eileen would never cheat on him, deceive him and destroy his life. He wanted to beg her for forgiveness, elope with her as soon as possible and send Walburga to hell. But the cunning harpy presented him with a freshly-printed copy of the Daily Prophet where the engagement between Eileen Prince and the widowed Abraxas Malfoy was announced. Orion couldn't believe his eyes. How could Eileen play him like this?

What he didn't know was that Eileen had only agreed to marry Abraxas Malfoy because Walburga had threatened to kill Orion otherwise. She had sent an owl to her, boasting that potions were an ingenious way to seduce your runaway fiancée, make him fall in love with you and get pregnant with his child. As evidence of their passionate night, she enclosed pictures of them between the sheets and a sample of her Fertility Potion. She threatened to kill Orion if Eileen didn't announce her engagement to Abraxas Malfoy in the next Daily Prophet. To underline the gravity of her death threats, she enclosed a flask of Orion's unique perfume mixed with a deadly poison. Although a devastated, heart-broken Eileen cried constantly for an hour, she knew that she had to sacrifice her happiness and love to save Orion's life. Hence, she sent her Unicorn Patronus with her engagement agreement to Abraxas Malfoy, who had tried to charm her for months and asked her to marry him one week ago, contacted the advertisement manager at the Daily Prophet with her engagement news, and pinned a quick message to Walburga - "You have won. May you rest in hell for your crimes."

She blocked out every Patronus message from Orion with a self-created spell, ignored his owls and played the happy fiancée of Abraxas Malfoy. It broke her heart to see his wedding photos with Walburga in the Daily Prophet a fortnight later. Seeing his empty sapphire eyes and forced smiles, her heart shattered into a million pieces. She knew that it was wrong of her to string Abraxas along, give him false hope and pretend to be happy with him. But she thought that she could go through with her marriage to protect the love of her life. Alas, a positive pregnancy test turned her world upside down. She was pregnant with Orion's love child. To protect Orion's and his life, she needed to escape into the Muggle world. Even if she married Abraxas in a rushed ceremony, slept with him and staged a premature birth, she knew that her child would never have Abraxas' white-blonde hair or grey eyes. Walburga would realize that her child was Orion's love child and threaten his life. Thence, Eileen decided to vanish into the Muggle world. She couldn't predict that her life would turn into hell there.


	4. Chapter 3 – Heartbreaks can open your eyes to happiness!

Living room, Prince Cottage, Cornwall, December 1978

Olivia Prince-Fawley lounged in her soft, midnight-blue silk pajamas on her cream-colored, comfortable couch. Smiling happily, she sipped her favorite dark chocolate and breathed in the scent of the beautiful flower bouquet – white roses, rosé pinks, rosé, and pink chrysanthemums and purple honeyworts. Severus harvested them in their greenhouses and plucked them as a token of his love every morning for her. She couldn't believe that she could call herself Mrs. Olivia Prince-Fawley now. Her life seemed like a surreal dream come true. Being married to the love of her life, studying in her second year as a Mediwitch in the prestigious Medical School of the Merlin Institute in New York City and developing new Healing Spells for the injured and sick. Brushing her stunning engagement ring – a center sapphire surrounded by little diamonds arranged in the form of a flower on a simple white-golden band – and her beautiful wedding ring – a three-stone diamond ring on a simple white-golden band with the engraving Olivia & Severus – Forever – with her porcelain fingers, she remembered their teenaged fumblings at Hogwarts with fond smiles and played vacantly with her honey-blonde curls.

She had had a huge crush on the sarcastic, witty and mysterious boy with the sad onyx eyes and sleek ebony hair since her third year. She admired him for his ingenious experiments in Potions, spectacular dueling skills in DADA, witty remarks in his fights with the Marauders and creative Defensive Spells in his duels with his Gryffindor bullies. Although they always targeted him four on one, he outwitted them with his brilliant mindset, nonverbal spellcasting, and agile movements. Whenever Olivia encountered a duel between him and the Marauders in the corridors, she would disarm one of the Gryffindor toerags, jump in the duel on Severus's side and call out the Marauders for their cowardly bullying ways. She would report the incidents to Prof. Flitwick or Prof. McGonagall, urge them to start an Anti-Bullying-Campaign as well as to declare a No-Tolerance-Policy for bullies at Hogwarts and to reduce the prejudices between the Houses, but the Hogwarts Professors weren't open for her ideas. They called them unpractical, against the competitive streak of the Houses and a pipe dream.

Naturally, they would put the Marauders into detention, deduct house points and remind them that bullying was a grave injustice that left scars on every survivor's soul for life and unmasked the ugly personality of the bullies, but that didn't stop the Marauders. On the contrary, the developed new methods and spells to stalk Severus, ambush him in hidden alcoves and put him in the hospital wing. Olivia hated them with every fiber of her heart. She was disgusted by their cocky attitudes, boastful demonstrations of their newest Quidditch moves and mocking stories about their latest attacks on "Snivellus". In her opinion, they were sadistic, air-headed and cruel bastards who felt joy and power by tormenting a lonely, intelligent boy. Whenever the girls in her Ravenclaw Common Room swooned in giggles about the handsome face of Sirius Black, the cute smile of James Potter and the sexy scars of Remus Lupin, she called them out for crushing on mean, self-centered and arrogant bullies. She voiced that cruel bullies like them could never be loving boyfriends because they got off on hurting other people physically and emotionally, humiliating them in front of a crowd and turning their lives into hell. And even the devil had a handsome face. Hence, they shouldn't fall for them, unless they wanted to end up in an abusive relationship.

With a wistful sigh and shake of her head, Olivia recalled the reactions of her husband's teenaged self to her actions against the Marauders. He had glared at her with a deathly look and a deep red face, urged her to move out of his way, leave him alone and stop poking her nose in his business and tried to chase her off with some nasty remarks. But Olivia wasn't easily intimidated by his harsh words, his in annoyance raised eyebrow or his angry sneers. She felt that Severus was only rebuffing her support out of a misdirected sense of hurt pride and the experience of needing to fight his battles alone. Hell, she knew that the Gryffindor airheads and some Slytherin toerags would probably mock him for needing a girl to defend himself. The Wizarding world was a patriarchal society where women and men had two ideal-typical roles in the mindset of the Pure-bloods. Whereas the women educated the children, supervised the house-elves and supported their husbands' companies or political careers, men protected their families, managed their finances and made a name for themselves. Thankfully, some of these ideals were questioned and adapted to their modern times in the '70s, but a boy who had been defended in a fight by a girl was still a sore spot for many schoolboys.

Olivia had realized that Severus was a lone wolf who wasn't familiar with being protected by someone. His sad obsidian eyes, threadbare clothes, bad hygiene, and used books screamed neglect, poverty, and unhappiness. In his heated fights with the Marauders, she had noticed that he was quick to anger, trained at sidestepping physical attacks and covered in bruises whenever he returned from his Summer Hols. She feared that he was physically and verbally abused by one parent, probably his Muggle parent, for a magical parent would most likely use spells that hurt without leaving visible marks. She had learned through the grapevine at Hogwarts that his mother, Eileen Prince, the sole heiress of the Prince family, had run away into the Muggle world, jilted her fiancé Abraxas Malfoy and eloped with a Muggle in secrecy. She had broken off all contact with her parents and the Magical world, vanished like a ghost into a little Muggle community and stopped using her magical powers. And although her son ventured into the Magical world with a vast knowledge of potions and hexes, Eileen Prince didn't resurface as an integrated member of the Wizarding society again. She could never be seen school supplies and wand shopping with her son in Diagon Alley or saying goodbye to him with tears in her eyes at the Hogwarts Express because Severus went school supplies hunting with the Evanses and drove with them in their Ford Mustang to the train station.

In the pit of her stomach, Olivia suspected that Mr. Snape hated magic, forbade his wife to practice it and abused her and their son for their freakish abilities. She had vowed to always be on Severus's side, be his friend and arrange some study sessions with him. Through this way, she could get to know her crush, lend him an open ear for his issues and even find a way to supply him with expensive quills, parchment and ink bottles. Thanks to her charm, excellence in Herbology and Charms as well as patient nature, she managed to persuade a grumpy Severus into shared study sessions in the library and private tutor sessions in Potions in an old, empty classroom. She stated that she would need his help in refining her Potions skills for her experiments with Healing Draughts and Spells. Luckily for her, Severus was baited by the prospect of experimenting with ingredients, brewing times and brewing methods together with a sharp, Herbology-obsessed Ravenclaw who would even pay him for his expertise in school supplies. Hence, they started their private experiment sessions in their fourth year - harvesting ingredients in the moonlight, testing out ancient brewing techniques and inventing new Healing Draughts and Potions.

Although they didn't talk much about their private lives in their lessons, Olivia laughed with happy tears shining in her chocolate brown eyes about Severus's sarcastic jokes, his witty remarks about their dunderheaded classmates and his adorable cut faces while he brewed. Whenever he spoke in his deep baritone with enthusiasm twinkling in his eyes about a new potion he had invented or an old recipe he had improved, Olivia listened closely to his lecture, looked at him in awe and beamed at him in happiness. She couldn't fathom why this brilliant, good-hearted and kind teenager had to endure so much pain in his life. It was astonishing that his father's abuse, the Marauders' bullying and his outsider status in Slytherin hadn't broken him, hardened him against the world and turned him into a revenge-seeking, life-destroying bastard. Naturally, due to his experiences with hate, violence, betrayal, and malice, he didn't trust her easily and disclosed his sad life story, but she had managed to gain his respect, pique his interest and build up a friendship between them. She realized with hopeful butterflies dancing in her stomach that he relaxed visibly in her presence, gifted her with some smug grins and cheeky smiles and asked her for her expertise on Spell theory and Herbology.

But her butterflies drooped their wings, whenever she saw him gazing dreamily at Lily Evans, zoning out on their academic discussions and longing to kiss her rosy lips. She knew since she had encountered Lily Evans and Severus Snape in the Hogwarts Express in their first year that Lily was his best friend, guardian angel and sole source of happiness. He defended their friendship to his Slytherin housemates despite their calls for cutting off all ties with the "filthy Gryffindor Mudblood" and their threats of making his life a living hell in Slytherin, helped a struggling Lily to battle her homesickness and self-doubts of not belonging into the Magical world and smiled at her like a boy in the candy store whenever she spent time with him or gave him a friendly hug. Olivia knew since their second year that Severus was in love with his best friend because he only had eyes for her and looked at her as if she was the most beautiful and intelligent girl in the world. But Olivia also guessed that he would never confess his love to her thanks to his low self-confidence, nagging self-loathing and negative self-perception of his looks. According to Severus logical thinking, Lily would never choose someone like him as her boyfriend – one socially awkward, ugly and poor Slytherin boy who loved to read Dark Art tomes and sneer at every dunderhead with a sarcastic remark on his lips. No way. Lily's boyfriend would be a popular, handsome and rich Ravenclaw boy who loved to dance and be the highlight of every party with his funny stories.

Hence, Severus would be satisfied with loving Lily from afar, protecting her against evil and seeing her live a happy life. It broke Olivia's heart every time she saw him look at the redhead with love in his eyes. Naturally, Severus didn't talk to her about his feelings for Lily. And although it bothered Olivia to see him waste his love on a girl who didn't deserve him, she didn't risk their tentative friendship by confronting him with his blind devotion to a bigger-than-life girl. In her eyes, Lily wasn't the kind-hearted, humble and extraordinary teenaged girl everyone made her out to be. She was actually quite shallow, mean and fake. Olivia had observed how she laughed with her girls' squad about the pranks that the Marauders' were pulling on their favorite target Severus Snape. What kind of person laughs with her mean girlfriends about the misery of her supposed-to-be best friend? Besides that, Olivia had noticed that Lily's group ranked the boyfriend potential of the boys at Hogwarts according to their looks, popularity, family background and sports skills. What kind of person chooses her boyfriend based on his looks and the Galleons in his Gringotts' account?

Olivia sometimes wished that Severus would overhear one of Lily's nasty remarks about him and see her ugly real personality. But she knew that encountering the unmasked Lily would break his heart into million pieces, increase his self-loathing as well as feelings of being unloved and throw him in a downward spiral. In the back of her mind, it dawned on her that the breakdown of Severus's and Lily's friendship was inevitable because Lily got more upset with his Dark Arts studies, his life as an outsider at Hogwarts and his sour personality every week. It almost seemed like as if she had given up on Severus like some teenaged girl would give up on her broken, threadbare Barbie doll. Severus had shown her a world of wonder, entertained her with stories about the Magical world and helped her to feel welcome at Hogwarts. But with the years she noticed that he couldn't help her with becoming a popular girl at Hogwarts and bothered her with his fascination in the Dark Arts, sarcastic remarks and unfitting, washed-out second-hand clothes. Their constant fights, his refusal to cut off all ties with his Slytherin housemates and paranoia with the Marauders, showed her that he wouldn't change his ways according to her wishes. He had lost his magic and allure in her eyes. Hence, she needed to wash her hands off of him. And the horrible attack on him in front of the Black Lake and his in anger, embarrassment and hurt pride shouted insult "filthy Mudblood" had given her the perfect opportunity to leave him on the curbs while taking the high road out.

Olivia shed some bitter tears, clutching her cup of hot chocolate tightly between her hands for comfort and warmth, as she remembered how she had encountered a tear-stricken, devastated and covered in his own blood sixteen-years-old Severus in a dusty classroom in the Slytherin dungeons. She had frantically searched every alcove for the heartbroken teen for she had noticed with a heavy heart that he didn't bother to show up to his classes, their study sessions or their experiment hours in the Potions lab. She had tried to comfort him after his fallout with Lily, tracking down a sobbing Slytherin behind one set of armor and encouraging him that everything would go to be all right. But he had flinched away from her touch, sneered at her words and chased her away with an anguished-sounding shout - "Leave me the hell alone!" She had respected his wishes reluctantly, albeit she vowed to not let him battle his heartbreak and bullying alone.

The blonde had felt that Severus had been at a critical point in his life. If he let himself be consumed by his depression, self-loathing and heartbreak, he would be easy prey for the Slytherin pureblood supremacist, the allure of the Dark Arts and his self-destructive ways. She needed to get through to him, point out that his life wasn't over and that she would always be there for him. Although she realized that Severus would most likely try to block her out of his life and wallow in his misery, she hoped that their blossoming friendship and shared passion for academical experiments would be the key for winning his trust and love. She hadn't been in the crowd by the Black Lake, but gossips about Snivellus hanging upside-down in the air, exposed in his boxers as well as at the mercy of his bullies, and his unforgivable lash out at his only friend, had circulated all around Hogwarts. She had lost her temper with the cruel, arrogant Marauders, hexed them with Bat-Bogey Hexes and called them a bunch of lying, cowardly, evil and dark monsters that all Gryffindors should be ashamed to call their housemates.

In the days after the attack, she had noticed with worry and a bleeding heart that Severus didn't bother to eat in the Great Hall, take care of himself and attend his classes regularly. He hid away in the dungeons, looking like a lonely, heartbroken boy who had lost his will to live. His huge obsidian eyes that normally sparkled with a keen mind and a mischievous glint looked empty and tear-stricken, his alabaster skin looked caseous and sickly and his shoulders were more hunched over than ever. Olivia felt the urge to embrace him tightly, be his source of comfort, hope, and light and protect him from himself. When he hadn't shown up in their secluded Potions classroom for the second time in a row, she had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach and knew that she needed to find him. She wouldn't be chased away by his angry shouts, sourly nature and depressed mindset again. Hence, she had rushed through the dungeons, ignoring the angry looks and buzzing gossip of her peers and praying to Merlin that he would be okay. Out of breath, she had found a bloodied, sobbing and black-dressed heap on the dusty floor of the dungeons who was cutting himself with his wand, graving the pain to feel something and punishing himself.

In shock, she had disarmed him, embraced him tightly and healed his wounds, whispering sweet nonsense in his ear and promising him to always be his friend. Feeling his sorrowful tears falling on her shirt, his rapid beating heart jumping against her chest and his labored breaths brushing her forehead, she clung to him desperately and vowed inside of her mind to show him true love. She hated the shallow, cold social climber Lily Evans and conducted to cure him of his unhealthy obsession. Thank Merlin, Severus accepted her comfort, listened to her encouragements concerning his academic and personal future and pulled himself out of his dark hole. For the last week of their fifth term, they met secretly in the Room of Requirement, lounging side by side on a comfy couch and talking about their holiday activities, planned experiments as well as hobbies.

He had also opened up about his tough home life – although he blanched it over by stating that he had to deal with an alcoholic dad and a depressed mum who were fighting constantly about money – and his broken friendship with Lily – although he still painted her in goddess-like colors. But their chats had ensured that he communicated with her via owl and the messenger Patronus frequently over the Summer Hols and his two-weeks-stay at her home helped to heal his heart, pump up his self-confidence and to establish a deep trust, understanding, and friendship between them. For the first time, she felt that her dream of living a life full of love, happiness, health and academic excellence with Severus wasn't her pipedream but her fate. And her lucky stars have secured that Severus fell deeply in love with her, forgot all about his hormone-driven, lust filled obsession with Lily Evans and understood the magic of true love.


	5. Chapter 4 – Heartbreaks can turn you into a bitter man!

Orion Black's Study, 12 Grimmauld Place, London, December 1978

Orion Black clutched his Firewhiskey tumbler with an iron grip. He needed some strong liquor to calm his buzzing nerves and shattered heart. Ten minutes ago, his majestic-looking, black owl, Salazar, had delivered him the newest edition of the Daily Prophet. Although it was a yellow press rag today that gossiped more about the love scandals of the upper Wizarding class and corruption scandals of the Ministry than informed every wizard and witch about the dire state of their politics and the threat of the maniac Lord Voldemort, Orion still subscribed to the newspaper to keep up to date about the stock market and the business dealings in the Wizarding world. Since his father, Arcturus Black, suffered from the early stages of Alzheimer's, he had been appointed as the CEO of Black Investment and was responsible for the growth of his inherited company.

He loathed his meetings with shark-like business associates in which he tried to persuade them to invest in new projects to build new headquarters for a magical security firm or to research new alternative methods for Wizarding communications. He longed to be eighteen again, happily in love with his beautiful girlfriend and studying to become a curse-breaker. Thankfully, his dad had permitted him to finish his training as a curse-breaker at Gringotts in a shortened course, for he needed to be installed as his deputy CEO till his first son with his manipulative harpy of a wife, Walburga Black, had arrived. Due to his shortened training, Orion hadn't been able to do many internships in the Gringotts branches around the world and not experienced as many adventures and difficult cases as he had hoped for. Orion had always been fascinated with Charms, Ancient Runes, and DADA, and loved his challenging, diversified training as a curse-breaker. But the crashing down of his romance with his one true love, Eileen Prince, and his forced imprisonment in a loveless, hellish marriage with his insane, cold-hearted fiancée, Walburga Black, had turned him into a bitter young man who couldn't feel happiness or love again and felt trapped.

Glancing at the magical picture of Eileen's aged beautiful face in the Daily Prophet, he still couldn't believe how Walburga had ripped his heart out days before he could run away with his lovely, intelligent girlfriend and blackmailed him into marrying her. Hell, he was only glad that he had managed to put his crazy, Lord Voldemort worshipping, wife into a St. Mungo's Institute for Psychological Diseases two years ago, because she would certainly be a risk to Eileen's life now. He had known that she had a sadistic streak and was fascinated with the Dark Arts since their childhood, for his older female cousin loved to torture her cuddly toys with her toy wand and absorbed every word in Dark Art tomes with relish. Orion had witnessed her cruel, inhuman experiments with house-elves as a teen and observed her obsession with the mystery, charismatic dark wizard, Lord Voldemort, with concern, for gossips in the Slytherin Common Room had circulated that he wanted to expunge every Muggle and Muggle-born in the Wizarding world, establish the rule of the Pure-bloods and enslave all magical creatures. He gathered young, manipulable followers of the noblest and most ancient Slytherin families with money, power, and connections around himself that he sent on Muggle-hunting or Muggle world-terrorizing missions.

Orion had loathed the rumors about the violent, inhuman and malicious attacks of his followers, the Death Eaters, and suspected to his horror that his fiancée Walburga was enmeshed in their dark actions. He had tried to convince his father that their marriage would end in a disaster, for there was no love lost between them, he feared their close relation would have negative impacts for their offsprings, and he questioned the mental sanity of his fiancée. But Arcturus hadn't taken any of his concerns into account and forced him to marry his insane female cousin under the menace of disinheritance. Orion took the newspaper in his hand and brushed with a tender smile on his face over the magical picture of his one true love. Eileen looked stunning at the wedding of her only son. Her ebony hair was cut in a fashionable bob that framed her heart-shaped face perfectly and accentuated her captivating, mysterious obsidian eyes. She was dressed in a beautiful, midi amber dress with a floral lace top and an elegant silk skirt that fitted her like a second skin and underlined her svelte figure. Orion sighed wistfully, kissed the smiling lips of her magical image and noticed with a shock that Eileen was wearing his promise ring.

On her delicate left ring finger sparkled his ring, a huge center amber stone lined by three diamonds on each side set on a simple, white-gold band engraved with their initials E.P. & O.B. and the vow Toujours l'amour, that he had gifted her in 1958. Why was she still wearing his ring, when she had broken his heart by having an illicit affair with this art-crazy, Muggle engineer, Tobias Snape, eloped with him in a secret ceremony and birthed his son? Merlin, he had been convinced that Eileen was his one true love. She had enchanted him with her stunning Snowhite looks, genius brain, charming personality and kind-hearted soul at Hogwarts. She had encouraged him to live out his dreams of becoming an independent curse-breaker, taught him the subtle art of potions brewing in a captivating, simple way so that he passed his Potions O.W.L.'s and N.E.W.T.'s with an "Acceptable", and loved the true Orion Black. In her company, he could show his vulnerable and romantic side. He didn't need to wear a mask and be the fun-loving, adventure-seeking and prank-throwing Slytherin Quidditch Captain and Hogwart's Duelling Champion. Instead, he could talk with her about his self-doubts, his strained relationship to his dad, his feelings of suffocating under the pressure of being the Black heir and his dreams of becoming a famous curse-breaker.

He could show her his love for poetry, his obsession with Muggle football and his fascination with Muggle technique. Their romance had been one of these fairytale love stories you read about in sappy novels or watch unfold in emotional Muggle movies until his crazy fiancée had destroyed everything before they could have their own happily ever after. Waking up naked, with no memories of the previous night, a splitting headache and the smell of sex and sweat in the air, in the bed of his sadistic, cold fiancée Walburga had been a nightmare. He had been utterly confused how he had ended up shagging his disgusting, deranged female cousin and cheating on the love of his life. He had realized quickly that she must have tricked him with some kind of Love Potion, Aphrodisiacs and Obliviation, for he wouldn't touch her with a ten-foot pole, was deeply in love with Eileen and had planned to call off his wedding to live a happy life with his girlfriend.

Merlin, he had bought them a little cottage in Windsor from the inheritance of his beloved grandma, Emilia Macmillan, transferred his money and shares into a Muggle bank account and stored his beloved possessions in a hidden vault at Gringotts to escape his arranged marriage. He knew that he would be burned from the Black family tree, disinherited from the noble and most ancient House of Black and lose his shares on Black Investment. But he had wanted to risk it all for love, happiness, and sanity. An angry Orion had lashed out at a self-satisfied smiling Walburga, called her a lying, manipulative whore and vowed that he would make her pay for her schemes. Hell, she had basically raped him. He would cancel their wedding, move in with the love of his life, Eileen Prince, and inform his father that she had drugged him with a Love Potion and lured him into her bed. She should thank him that he didn't call the Aurors and let them throw her sorry ass into Azkaban. Walburga had laughed at him in a deprived cackle, called him a love-crazy, blind fool who would be dealt with by the Dark Lord in the future and taunted him with the fact that her Love Potion, Aphrodisiacs, and Compulsion weren't verifiable in his blood anymore. Besides that, he wouldn't dare to call the Aurors, demasked himself as a weakling – for only a powerless, naïve, and weak wizard could fall prey to a Love Potion – and drag the House of Black in the mud.

Orion had replied in a furious tone that he didn't care about the reputation of the Blacks, her fate or the gossip columns in the Daily Prophet. He wouldn't marry her and make her life a living hell if she dared to bother him and his girlfriend. Walburga had approached him with a mad glint in her eyes and whispered in an ice-cold voice into his ear, "I'm looking forward to seeing how you are going to abandon your fiancé and your unborn child. Potions are really some helpful, little liquids if you want to make your runaway fiancée fall in love with you for one night and impregnate you. I'm sure that this sweet, little, Potions genius Eileen taught you everything about their powers in your private tutoring lessons. Before I have dosed you with the Love Potion, I had taken an infallible Fertility Potion. Congratulations, my love. We're going to be parents in nine months time. Isn't it ironic that potions destroyed your happily ever after with the Prince heiress?"

Orion had shivered on his entire body. He was fucked. His father would never allow him to leave a pregnant Walburga behind. Hell, this crazy bitch had turned his life into hell. He would need to marry her in May and parent his child with her. Merlin, how much he hated her right now. She wasn't fit to be a loving, kind mum. She would ruin their child's lives. He shuttered when he imagined one spoiled, unloved boy with unruly curls and sad sapphire-grey eyes. He vowed to be a loving dad to his child despite their conception and she-devil for a mum. They were innocent. He needed to protect them. Lost in his horror visions about a neglected, dark curses throwing toddler, he had pushed aside any thoughts on his lost love. Oh god, he would break Eileen's heart into a million pieces. Perhaps, he could explain everything to her: how Walburga had seduced him with a Love Potion and secured that she would be carrying his child. She would be furious at Walburga's actions and call him out for not detecting the Love Potion. Hell, she would most likely break off all contact with him, because it would be too painful for them to only be best friends while they loved each other.

His sweet, beautiful Eileen was lost to him. She would understand that he was forced to marry Walburga, step aside and throw herself in her Potions' research to forget him. Hell, he would miss her like a cursed mermaid missed her water, for she was his air to breathe. She made his life brighter and encouraged him to be the best version of himself. Without her, he would be a lost, heartbroken and bitter robot, who sealed deals for Black Investment without joy and forgot how to laugh with your whole heart. He had gathered his thoughts, pulled up his Occlumency shields and hissed in a lethal voice, "Congratulations, Walburga, you have won. I will marry you in May and we will raise our child as a family. But don't delude yourself. I will never love you. I will only look at you with disgust in my eyes and never forget how you have destroyed my life. You are a ruthless, mental dark witch who sells her own grandmother to get what she wants. I will never fall prey to your tricks and share your bed again. If you dare to fuck up our child with your delusions, cold nature and cruel personality, I will throw you in a Mental Health Facility. And if you dare to harm Eileen in any way, I will turn your life into hell after our child is born."

Walburga had kept a straight face, not intimidated at all by his threats and had mocked him in a shrill voice, "Oh, Orion, isn't it sweet how you are still deluding yourself with your epic love story. Believe me, I knew that our marriage wasn't going to be all rainbows and unicorns. But you won't dare to lock me away in an asylum, our son will need his dear mummy. And the longer I listen to your delusions about your sweet, perfect Eileen, I'm more convinced that you should be checked out by the St. Mungo's Mental Health Facility. Merlin, the Prince heiress with the captivating obsidian eyes did quite a number on you. I wonder if she has also seduced her Muggle lover and Abraxas Malfoy into her bed with her huge onyx eyes, porcelain skin and sweet love declarations. She must be quite the enchantress to bag Abraxas Malfoy. Perhaps, she used one of her beloved Potions on him. Damn, it's so sad that you wanted to throw everything away for a three-timing-whore like her."

Orion had nearly jumped into his fiancée's face, glared at her murderously and shouted in an enraged voice, "Don't call her by this despicable name. You only spray your poison and utter your lies. Eileen would never cheat on me. She is a loyal, good-hearted, sweet, young woman who means everything to me. If you weren't currently carrying my child, I would hex you into oblivion for your disrespect. Stop your lies right now or I will cast a Silencing Spell on you." Walburga looked at him unimpressed and started roaring in laughter. "Well, it seems that Eileen did play you well. Perhaps, I will ask her for some pointers. You see, my naïve Orion, I'm not lying to you. Eileen isn't sitting at home, dreaming about you and gushing about your handsome face right now. She is most likely rolling in the sheets with this brunette-haired Muggle engineer, Tobias Snape, or celebrating her engagement with Abraxas Malfoy at the moment."

She paused, accioed the Daily Prophet and some pictures with dramatic gestures and showed them to the pissed-off Black heir. "There. If you don't believe me, perhaps you will believe her engagement announcement in the Daily Prophet or these scandalous pictures my loyal house-elf Libby could shoot for me. She kisses Abraxas Malfoy so passionately, she is practically eating his face. No wonder that the two love-birds are rushing to the aisle now. But I guess that Eileen is only playing him to get some money, for her love letters to this filthy Muggle don't paint such a flattering picture of Abraxas Malfoy and contain some rather steamy content. I would have never picked Eileen for a girl who is into kinky sex. But I guess, still waters run deep," Walburga cackled and handed the Daily Prophet, some pictures and love letters out to an ashen-looking Orion with a triumphant smirk.

Orion didn't want to believe her lies. She had certainly instructed Libby to fake these pictures and letters. Eileen would never shredder his heart into a million pieces. She had promised him that they would live a happy life full of adventures and love. She didn't care about money and only ever had eyes for him. These photos and letters must be a ploy by Walburga. They were all snippets of a fabricated smear campaign to shame Eileen and break his heart. She wanted to drive him into a mental breakdown, destroy his love for his one true love and turn his love for Eileen into hate. But he wouldn't be played by her like this. He would detect the Manipulation Charms and prove Eileen's faithfulness to him. In a frantic voice, he uttered a Revealing Spell above the front page of the Daily Prophet. But the letters wouldn't budge, they remained the same and constructed the unbelievable words Prince Heiress delighted to announce her engagement to the aristocrat Abraxas Malfoy. - "He is the love of my life".

Orion felt a painful stab in his heart. How was this possible? How could Eileen betray him like this? He must be living out some freakish nightmare and wake up any minute. He pinched himself, but nothing happened. The words remained the same. Eileen was engaged to this pompous, wealthy and ruthless widowed bastard? It couldn't be real. In trance, he looked closely at the attached pictures and saw Eileen and her fiancé in various loved-up positions. In one picture, Eileen snogged the blonde haired widow senseless. In another, Abraxas Malfoy stroked Eileen's sexy back in a backless dress with sexy eyes. In the last picture, Eileen and Abraxas were walking hand-in-hand through Diagon Alley, smiling at each other happily. Orion felt like he would suffocate. This couldn't be happening to him. Eileen wasn't some heartless bitch, she loved him. Perhaps, Walburga had exchanged the face of one of Abraxas's flings with Eileen's. But every spell or charm he had used to demask the alterations on the pictures and show him the originals, didn't change the pictures. They were real.

An ice-cold feeling settled inside of his heart. How could he have been so wrong about Eileen? Their romance had been a dream come true. Deep down in his bones, he had always suspected that it was too good to be true. But he would have never guessed, that Eileen had played him like a fool. She really deserved an Oscar for her performance, if all of her love declarations, encouraging speeches, gentle touches and passionate kisses in the last three years had been fake. A tiny voice inside his head screamed that Eileen would never betray him like this. He knew her gentle soul and true self. She could never hurt him like this. But he didn't listen to his inner voice.

Blinded by his feelings of betrayal, anger, and heartbreak, he had scanned to the attached letters to demask her diabolical double-life. His eyes had nearly jumped out of his sockets and his heart shattered into a million pieces. My love Tobias – How much I miss the feeling of your kisses on my breasts. – Orion is such a fool. He believes that you are stalking me. Which stalker gets blowjobs from his victim? – I can't wait to elope with you and be called Mrs. Snape. – It's so easy to manipulate Orion with an emotional love declaration and lustful moans. – I can't wait to shag you senseless after our next art vernissage. – Your love for art really turns me on. – Orion is such a bore – In endless love, Eileen.

Orion had torn the offending love letters into shreds. They were authentic, for Eileen's swinging, steady script had graced their pages and each letter ended with her unique signature. Walburga wouldn't have been able to fake them. Besides that, how the hell should Walburga know anything about Tobias Snape? He had been a charming, brown-haired Muggle engineer who they had met on one of Eileen's beloved visits to an Art gallery. He had complimented Eileen for her beautiful purple dress and talked shop with her about the paintings. Orion had tightened his grip around Eileen's waist, glared murderously at this upstart Muggle and kindly asked him to focus his eyes on Eileen's face instead of her neckline. This Muggle had creeped him out, especially after he could sneak a peek into his thoughts. He had fantasized about Eileen in various sexual situations and called her his beloved. Orion had wandlessly and non-verbally hexed him with a Stinging Hex and confounded him before he guided a confused Eileen out of the gallery and urged her to never speak to this creep again. He guessed now that she must have been attracted to him thanks to their art obsession and fallen in love with him. Merlin, how could he have been so blind?

Orion had tried to contact Eileen via owls and his Patronus messenger, although he had only managed to produce some pathetic looking featherball instead of his Thunderbird. He wanted to confront her with her lies, ask for her motivations to string him along and question her if their romance had been a huge farce on her part from the beginning. In one desperate message, he had begged her to be honest with him, disclose her reasons for marrying Abraxas and reassure him that everything was a network of intrigues orchestrated by Walburga. But Eileen had ignored him and played the happy fiancée of Abraxas Malfoy until she vanished into the Muggle world like a ghost to elope with Tobias Snape in the summer of 1959. After that, the name Eileen Prince had disappeared completely from the Magical world. He had heard whispers by her Hogwarts friends that she didn't practice magic anymore and lived a simple life with her husband and son in the Muggle world.

Orion brushed delicately over the facial features of his only love. If she had been happy in the Muggle world, why has she returned to her parents' Manor sixteen months ago? And if she had played him like his crazy wife made him believe, why was she wearing his ring at her son's wedding? It dawned on Orion, that not everything was as it seemed. Perhaps, Walburga had somehow forced Eileen to accept Abraxas Malfoy's marriage proposal, run away into the Muggle world and elope with this creep. He didn't know what this deranged harpy had done to Eileen, but he would uncover her schemes and reunite with his love. For he felt for the first time in nearly nineteen years that Eileen loved him.


	6. Chapter 5 – Heartbreaks can drive you into madness!

Sirius's flat, Soho, Muggle London, December 1978

Sirius had woken up with a splitting headache thanks to an earth-shattering hangover after a night of heavy drinking and partying with his Auror training mates. He knew that alcohol wasn't an answer to his personal issues, but he wanted to forget the heartbreak, haunting childhood memories and the feeling of not knowing who he was. He was a fucked-up, lost little boy in the body of a nineteen-year-old handsome bloke who hated his deranged, Dark Arts obsessed she-devil of a mum and was unrequited in love with his best mate, James Potter. It hurt like hell to think about James's impending marriage to the gorgeous, smart and lovely, Lily Evans, for he knew that their marriage wouldn't make them happy and end in a disaster. Sirius had discovered that he was attracted to men as well as women in his fourth year at Hogwarts. He had had his fair share of flings with boys and girls at Hogwarts, although he had kept his sexual affairs with males hushed up and hidden.

Same-sex relationships weren't accepted in the Wizarding world, because they didn't include biological children. In a world, where most wizards and witches were obsessed with carrying on their bloodlines and popping out magically powerful children, wizards and witches who had sex with the same sex and eliminated the possibilities of having biological children, were treated like criminal outsiders. Hence, Sirius had shagged his male conquests in hidden alcoves or broom closets at Hogwarts with Security Spells in place that would warn them of approaching teachers or students. While he had made out with his female flings on booze-filled parties in the Gryffindor Common Room, kissed them passionately in the Great Hall or danced closely with them at the Yule Ball, his affairs with male students were his dirty secret. Hell, he wasn't ashamed of his sexuality and talked with his Marauders' mates openly about it, but he could only live out his attraction to males openly in Muggle gay bars where nobody knew him. Besides that, he nowadays only used quick, meaningless sex with women and men to forget about his lost love.

If he was totally honest with himself, Sirius realized that he had a sex problem, for he used sex to feel loved and experience a high. The unloved, insecure little boy in him was addicted to sensing some physical warmth, desire-filled touches, and frenzied kisses. Merlin, he knew that he would never have his happily ever after because the love of his life was marrying a woman. Thence, he satisfied his sexual needs and feelings of loneliness, rejection and hurt with empty, frenzied sex. He knew that he couldn't love another human being as much as James Potter. Sirius loved him with a fiery passion, gentle compassion and touching selflessness. James was his one true love, his soulmate and the one person on earth who could make him laugh, feel safe and blissfully happy. He was his best mate and kindred spirit. Waking up in his arms and making love to him, felt like being home. And the little, abused and neglected boy in Sirius had always longed to feel loved and at home.

His wicked dark witch of a mum had tortured him with dark curses, starvation or imprisonment in the creepy, dark basement of 12 Grimmauld Place whenever he disobeyed her in private, embarrassed her in public or angered her with his rebellious, reckless behavior. And you only needed to refuse to maim your house-elves with dark curses, talk to your Pure-blooded playmates too loudly at the table or chase your little brother through Grimmauld Place with squirt guns to earn yourself a dark hex. When Sirius reflected on the hours spend withering on the floor in pain, suppressing his hungry feeling or crying in the dark basement, a hot hatred and nasty bile acid rushed through his body. He asked himself time and time again how a parent could abuse their own flesh and blood like this. Naturally, Sirius had known since his early childhood that Walburga Black wasn't a good-hearted, warm mum. She had never read bedtime stories out to him and his brother, nursed their scratched knees, played games with them or hugged them tightly, but his four-year-old self could have never imagined that she was capable of abusing her children until they begged her to stop with the promise of being the perfect Pure-blooded sons or blacked out.

His crazy harpy of a mum had used dark curses that didn't leave visible scars or healed their maimed flesh with a quick charm. Hence, their father Orion had never seen any signs of her abuse. Children are very perceptive to the moods and feelings of their parents. Thus, Sirius noticed at a young age that his parents loathed each other and only remained married to keep up appearances. There had been no love lost between Orion and Walburga Black, for they insulted each other non-stop, threw objects at each other in heated fights and tried to ignore each other's presence by hiding out in their personal studies. They had separate bedrooms and lived separate lives. They didn't talk about their daily affairs, spend family holidays with their kids in St. Moritz or St. Tropez or discussed the education of their children. They only looked at each other with hatred lightning in their eyes and disgust visible on their faces.

Orion had been a hands-on-dad in the first five years of Sirius's life, entertaining him with colorful, action-filled stories about his adventures as a curse-breaker, teaching him how to fly on a broom or playing Exploding Snap with him. Sirius loved his dad deeply. He wanted to be like him when he was grown-up. He read tomes on curse-breaking and trained his Quidditch moves to impress him. He longed to be embraced by his strong arms or to see a beaming smile on his face because he could forget his mum's abuse in his presence and feel loved. Sure, Sirius had noticed that his dad wasn't happy in his marriage, for he didn't smile often, hid his laughter behind a mask of coolness and looked at him with sad sapphire eyes. Sirius had realized that his dad's heart had been broken and that even spending quality time with his children couldn't heal his scars. He had observed how Orion indulged in too much Firewhiskey on lonely nights in his private study, looking wistfully on an image of an ebony-haired, dark-eyed, porcelain-skinned and happily smiling young woman and sobbing, "Oh, Eileen, why do I still love you, if you have ripped out my heart?". Besides that, he had noticed how Orion tensed up whenever he saw an advertisement for Prince Potions in the Daily Prophet or heard children gossiping about a Muggle sport called "football" in Diagon Alley.

In his naïve mindset, Sirius had thought that he could cheer his dad up with some magical tricks or funny jokes, but Orion's smiles remained forced. He wanted to blurt out how his she-devil of a mum punished him and Regulus for their misdeeds, trained them in the Dark Arts and indoctrinated them with the agenda of some bloke she called the "Dark Lord". But Walburga Black had threatened to kill their beloved dad with an undetectable, deathly poison, if they dared to go crying to their father. Hence, Sirius and Regulus kept their suffering at Walburga's hands secret to protect the life of their dad. Since Orion had needed to take over as the CEO of Black Investment due to their grandpa's illness when Sirius was six, he hadn't got as much time for his boys as before. He couldn't go flying with them every weekend, teach them nifty spells or entertain them with his prank stories from Hogwarts. Sirius felt abandoned by his dad, resented his work for Black Investment and withdrew from him.

Spending his daily hours being indoctrinated by his she-devil of a mum in the Pure-blood supremacy, hexed with newly created dark curses or educated on the proper behavior of a Pure-blooded heir of the noble and most ancient house of Black, Sirius began to hate the Dark Arts, loathe the Slytherin ways and resent his existence as the Black heir. He reasoned that her addiction to the Dark Arts had driven his mother into insanity, the pressure of being the Black heir had turned his dad into a bitter, unhappy man and that all Slytherins were cruel, dark wizards and witches. In secret, he had ordered his loyal house-elf, Ebony, to buy him Muggle comics, books on Muggle culture and a miniature toy bike. He wanted to educate himself on the Muggle world, understand their customs and way of life, to determine, if the Wizarding world should rule above them. Driven by the urge to learn everything about Muggles, Sirius devoured every comic, pop magazine and book he could get his hands on.

Naturally, he put himself on the line with his Muggle studies, for his she-devil of a mum would have had his head if she found out that he had developed a fascination with the filthy Muggles and their Muggleness. Thankfully, Sirius had managed to hide his Muggle items and books in an old trunk that only opened to his magical signature with the help of Ebony. Sirius learned in his studies that Muggles had their own magical inventions without having magical powers – electricity, telephones, cars, airplanes, TV, the radio, etc. He loved their comfortable-looking jeans and shirts, colorful comics and entertaining novels. Based on the pictures of happily smiling children, blissfully laughing parents and rollicking dogs, he decided that Muggles were empathetic, caring and happy human beings who weren't beneath wizards and witches because of their lack of magical powers. They didn't deserve to be tortured or killed by this maniac Dark Lord and Sirius vowed to protect them from his craziness and violence.

His crazy mum had always ranted about "worthless Blood-traitors" like the Potters, Weasleys, and Prewetts who advocated for equal rights of Muggle-borns, Half-bloods, and Pure-bloods in the Wizarding world and were fascinated with Muggle culture. She blamed "this old, senile fool Dumbledore" for indoctrinating them and alienating them from their Pure-blooded way of life. Sirius vowed to support Dumbledore's agenda, fight against the Dark Lord's inhumane, maniac ideas and persuade the Sorting Hat to not sort him into Slytherin, because he associated being a Slytherin with an addiction to the Dark Arts, sadistic nature and life in despair, unhappiness and sorrows. He had summarized that Gryffindor would be the house that suited him best because Dumbledore, as a former Gryffindor, favorited the members of Gryffindor and they were considered to be the most popular, daring and bravest students at Hogwarts. Sirius wanted to belong to a group that was admired for their courage, pranks and Quidditch skills instead of being singled out as a cunning, evil dark wizard. Hence, he had decided to abandon his Black heritage and be sorted into Gryffindor.

He knew that his she-devil of a mum would pay him back with dark curses, painful Slicing Hexes, and hateful Boiling Hexes during the hols, but he would endure them to have a chance on a better life. But before he could board his train to Hogwarts, his world came crashing down in the shape of a dark family secret. His dad had told him as a four-year-old that he needed to be more careful than other children when playing outside in the cold because he had been a premature baby whose lungs hadn't been fully developed. He had needed to spend some weeks in St. Mungo's as a baby to get well and struggled with pneumonia and asthma ever since. Mere months before he should board the Hogwarts Express, Sirius felt like he would suffocate. He couldn't breath and his asthma medication wouldn't help. Hence, he was rushed to St. Mungo's where the healers diagnosed a genetic pulmonary disease. To apply an effective remedy, that he would need to take for the rest of his life, they needed to determine his blood type and test his genes. He had the blood type AB negative and his genetic pulmonary disease was unknown for the Blacks. After Walburga Black had reluctantly agreed to test her blood, the healers identified her blood type as A positive and found no genes for his pulmonary disease.

Thence, Orion Black agreed to test his blood to see if he had passed the genetic disease on to his son via some recessive genes. But to Orion's shock, the healers uncovered that he wasn't Sirius biological dad, because he had the blood type O positive and no genes for his son's pulmonary disease. Thankfully, the healers were able to develop a cure for Sirius based on his genetic information and their prior experiences with his genetic lungs disease. Sirius had felt numb inside when he had eavesdropped on a fight between his parents some days after he had been released from St. Mungo's. He hadn't been able to sleep and wanted to nick a bar of milk chocolate to calm his nerves. But on his way down into the kitchen, he had listened in on a heated discussion between his parents. A furious, intoxicated Orion had accused Walburga of ruining his life and seducing him with a Love Potion and Fertility Potion into her bed to trap him in a loveless marriage and foist a mailman's child on him. Walburga had only laughed at his naivety and gullibility, mocked him for his puppy love to the Blood-traitor Eileen Prince and confessed that Sirius was the biological child of Sebastian Lestrange. She had had a sordid affair with the loyal, married supporter of Lord Voldemort in 1958/1959, got pregnant with his child and foisted its paternity onto her fiancé Orion. She taunted him for not figuring out that a two months premature baby couldn't weigh 6 lb and 9 oz. Baby Sirius had only needed to stay a month at St. Mungo's, for his lungs hadn't been fully developed due to Sebastian's genetic pulmonary disease.

A devasted Sirius had broken down in front of their dining room door, sobbing uncontrollably and rocking himself in an embryonic posture. This couldn't be right. He couldn't be the son of this sadistic, sinisterly smirking, Sebastian Lestrange. Hell, whenever he had encountered him on a social event, he had felt an icy shiver run down his spine. Sebastian Lestrange loved to practice the Dark Arts, go Muggle-Hunting and leer at beautiful, young women. This monster couldn't be his biological dad. Cause if he had two monsters as his biological parents, how could he turn out to be good? His genes were fucked up. He felt bile surface in his throat and cried louder. Suddenly, his dad was beside himself, picked him gently up from the floor and stroked his back soothingly. He mumbled calming words into his ear and chased away an embarrassed Walburga who wanted to hex her son for his breakdown. Orion carried him into his room, tucked him in and embraced him tightly. After Sirius had calmed down, he stated in his deep baritone, "Sirius, you will always be my son, your genes don't change anything about it. I'm the man who sang you to sleep with an old Celtic lullaby as a babe, taught you how to fly on a broom as a toddler and entertained you with my curse-breaker adventures as a boy. I love you to the moon and back. Never forget that, my son."

Sirius had clung to his dad, told him, "I love you too, dad," and fallen asleep due to his emotional exhaustion. Orion had tried to manifest his words with his actions. He had spent more time with Regulus and him during the next couple of months. He took them to Quidditch matches, played Wizarding Chess or Exploding Snap with them and bought them new brooms. Besides that, he also retold them stories about his best Hogwarts pranks, gifted them some silly smiles and honest laughs and embraced them tightly. Orion treated them equivalent, although only Regulus was his biological son. He had checked that with a Paternity Potion after the shocking revelation of Sirius's true paternity. He had even confessed to Sirius in a heart-to-heart that he was proud of his Muggle studies, for he didn't believe in the whole Pure-blood supremacy propaganda. His dad had spotted one of his comics and his miniature bike in his room and encouraged him to keep an open mind with Hafl-blood and Muggle-born students at Hogwarts. But he had urged him to hide his fascination with the Muggle world from his crazy mum and to always be the best wizard he can be. He had confessed to him in a broken voice that he had ventured into the Muggle world with the love of his life, Eileen Prince, in their youth, watching football games and Muggle movies as well as visiting Art galleries. But he had lost her in the end due to Walburga's schemes and her infatuation with some Muggle bloke.

The last months before his departure to Hogwarts had been his happiest in 12 Grimmauld Place because Orion had banned Walburga to their French cottage for her lies and betrayal. Hence, she couldn't torture her sons and poison their mind with her Dark Magic and the Dark Lord's agenda. Sadly, Orion needed to welcome her back to their home to keep up appearances and quell the rumor mill on the day of his departure to Hogwarts. So, a nervous, feeling lost Sirius Black dressed in his best slacks, dress shirt, coat and boots, apparated to Platform Nine and Three Quarters at the King's Cross station with his shiny, new trunk packed with school supplies, designer clothes and personal items in his right hand and the cage of his new familiar, a cute barn owl with sapphire eyes, called "Poseidon", in his left hand. He was accompanied by a sour-looking Walburga Black, who hissed into his ear that there would be hell to pay if he wasn't sorted into Slytherin, a proudly smiling Orion Black, who encouraged him to follow his heart and instincts, and a teary-eyed Regulus Black, who urged him to write regularly and confessed that he would miss him. Sirius had reassured him with an easy smile that he would tell him everything about his pranks and new Hogwarts friends, that he missed him too and that he would always be his best friend. After this heartfelt goodbye, he had boarded the train, happy to escape the abuse of Walburga Black and determined to be not sorted into Slytherin.

Here, he had met his best mates Remus Lupin, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew and his Slytherin nemesis, Severus Snape. He had hated him from the moment he voiced that he wanted to be sorted into Slytherin like his mum. Naturally, his hatred for anything Slytherin played a role in his instant hostility to Severus Snape, but with his sinister-looking obsidian eyes, greasy hair and dark aura he practically screamed "Death Eater in training". Besides that, Sirius had been able to spot the Princes' crest and engraving Eileen Prince on his old, threadbare trunk. He felt a rage rushing through his veins. This pale boy with the hooked nose, greasy dark locks, and tattered clothes was the son of his dad's one true love who had ripped out his heart and cheated on him with a Muggle? Sirius couldn't believe his eyes and vowed to hate this boy out of loyalty to his father. He would be the ideal test subject for his pranks.

Sirius stopped his journey down memory line and let out an anguished-cry. "Well, the pathetic Slytherin upstart Severus Snape isn't so dark and evil after all. Unlike you, he has managed to finish Hogwarts a year early, study at the prestigious Merlin Institue in New York in Potions and DADA, be acknowledged as the Prince heir and marry the love of his life. He has his happily ever after, while you are left heartbroken by James Potter. Who is the pathetic one now?", a taunting voice asked inside of his head. In the past months, Sirius had come to regret his bullying of Severus Snape. He admired him for his talents in Spellcrafting, Potions, and DADA, his loved-up interaction with his lovely new wife, Olivia Prince-Fawley, and his academic and strategic work for the Order. Sirius had to admit that Severus Snape was a stronger person than he could have imagined. Although their cruel bullying has left scars on his soul and his falling out with his boyhood crush, Lily Evans, cut him to the quick, he came back to Hogwarts in their sixth year like a reborn phoenix.

With his new-trained muscles clearly visible under his fitted new designer slacks and shirts, his styled-back, glossy, ebony curls, spot-less porcelain face, and his handsome smile, he was the new hottie at Hogwarts. And Sirius had to admit that his improved looks, his self-confident and powerful aura as well as his smart and witty charm were highly attractive. If he hadn't been so blissfully happy in his sordid love affair with James and known that Severus wasn't attracted to men and would rather hex him into oblivion than shag him, he would have asked him and his stunning girlfriend, Olivia Fawley, for a passionate threesome. He could admire a hot cuple when he saw one and to his utter disbelief, Severus and Olivia were the hottest couple in the Wizarding world right now. Sirius shook his head. Were did these thoughts come from? He wasn't attracted to Severus Snape. Merlin, he really needed to have an excellent shag in the near future, if his mind conjured up sexual images of him, Olivia and Snape between the sheets.

James final decision to break it off with him six months ago to marry Lily had really done a number on him. Sometimes, he feared that his heartbreak would drive him into madness, for he couldn't forget James's boyish smile, the feeling of his hands in his messy hair or his handsome face in post-orgasmic bliss. But he needed to erase their love affair from his mind to be able to be James's best mate and best man at his wedding, for he couldn't live without him. And if James noticed that he was still madly in love with him, he would cut off all ties with him to protect his romance with Lily. Sometimes, Sirius would drift off into a fantasy world where he could openly live out his romance with James without damnation and James's fiancée in the picture. But he knew that this was a dream that would never come true.


	7. Chapter 6 – Heartbreaks can reveal your real friends!

Regulus's room, 12 Grimmauld Place, London, December 1978

Regulus downed a Sober-Up Potion from Prince Potions in a haste. Damn, his best friends' wedding party had been a blast. They had danced all night, consumed liquor like water and sung karaoke. He was so happy that his best mate, Severus Prince, had found the love of his life and got hitched in a beautiful, creative Winter Wedding. They were the perfect couple: two stunning, academic and blissfully in love teenagers who wanted to make the Wizarding world into a better place with their inventions in Healing Potions and Restorative Charms as well as their consulting work for the Order of the Phoenix. Regulus smiled as he remembered their emotional, unique Wedding ceremony. Severus had been so nervous in front of the aisle, that he checked his outfit – a slim-fitted, black designer suit with a classic white dress shirt, stylishly patterned grey waistcoat and matching tie – a million times and paced up and down in front of the rosé, pink and lavender colored floral garlands. He had greeted their assembled close friends and families with polite smiles and nods and tried to calm down his nerves by citing Potions ingredients inside of his head.

Merlin, as his best man, Regulus had tried to reassure Severus that he was the luckiest wizard in the world and that nothing could go possibly wrong. Dressed in his best dark grey suit with a white dress shirt and pink tie, he had stopped Severus's pacing, messaged his tensed-up shoulders with a cheeky smile and teased him that he shouldn't be so anxious for he had already seen his bride naked and shagged her dozens of times. Obsidian eyes had glared murderously at him and scolded him for his bad humor. But Regulus had only shaken his dark-brown curls, twinkled at him mischievously with sparkling sapphire eyes and joked that he wished he would get as much action between the sheets as Severus. Severus had smirked smugly at him and voiced that he should find his one true love, propose to her and move in with her. His sexless life would be long buried history. He had leaned into him and stated in a conspirational tone, "My wedding is the perfect chance to confess your endless love to the lovely Camille Greengrass, my friend. As Olivia's maid-of-honor, she is required to dance with you. She will undoubtedly look stunning in her pink lace dress and be in a celebratory mood. We both know that she has a huge crush on you and only awaits your first move. So, be your charming self, dance closely with her, pay her some compliments and confess your feelings for her, Reg. You wouldn't be the first best man who finds his happily ever after with the maid-of-honor on his best friend's wedding."

Regulus had blushed crimson and playfully nudged Severus in the side. But Severus had been right. Camille looked like a blooming English rose in her midi, tight pink lace dress that matched the color of his tie and hugged her curves perfectly. With her captivating Jade eyes, luscious pink lips and high cheekbones on her olive face, the feisty brunette could enchant every boy at Hogwarts. She was a charming Ravenclaw in Regulus year, who excelled in Charms and Arithmancy, scored many goals for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team as a talented chaser and founded a Debate Club at Hogwarts. Regulus had fallen for her charms in their sixth year. They had always hung out in the same circle of friends, for Camille was Olivia's best female friend at Hogwarts. Hence, she had accompanied the Fawley heiress to their shared study sessions, legendary Slytherin Common Room parties and friendly outings in the Three Broomsticks. After Severus and Olivia had become the new it-couple at Hogwarts, Camille would secure the loved-up couple some cozy alone time by engaging Regulus in controversial debates about the rights of Magical Creatures, academical pop quizzes for Transfiguration or chats about their favorite Quidditch teams.

Regulus liked Camille's smart and sweet personality, her obsession with Quidditch and fight for the rights of all magical beings. She had always been a dear friend to him who would listen to his ramblings about Ancient Runes, challenge his interest in the Dark Arts and cheer him up with silly jokes and cheeky grimaces whenever he was feeling down. She helped him cope with his she-devil of a mum's stay in a St. Mungo's Institute for Mental Diseases, his fractured relationship with his brother Sirius and his fears of being branded with the Dark Mark against his will. He had opened up about his mum's emotional and physically abusive behavior and his dark nightmares filled with images of a dark curses throwing Walburga Black who kidnapped him to turn him into a loyal follower of her beloved Dark Lord. Camille had listened patiently, with huge, empathetic Jade eyes, to his painful experiences with abuse, comforted him with friendly hugs and reassuring words when he broke down in tears and called him a strong, kindhearted and funny survivor who would make a difference in the Wizarding world due to his Ancient Runes studies and advocacy for the rights of house-elves.

She assured him that his crazy dark witch of a mum couldn't hurt him anymore and force him to take the Dark Mark because she was treated for her Dark Arts addiction and mental disease in a closed ward at the St. Mungo's Institute for Mental Diseases. Walburga Black wouldn't be able to manipulate her way out of there and surrender her second son to the Dark Lord, for she was under surveillance 24/7 and couldn't leave her ward. Besides that, his friends, dad, and brother would protect him against any kidnapping attempts of the Death Eaters and his bad-ass training in DADA secured that he could win any duel with a lunatic Death Eater. Regulus thanked her for her belief in his abilities, positive mindset and comfort. She was his closest friend besides Severus and meant everything to him. But Regulus had only noticed in their sixth year, their first year without their friends Olivia and Severus by their side, in their late Charms study sessions in the library or laughter-filled cozy hours in the Room of Requirement that he had fallen in love with his best female friend. Hell, he hadn't been blind to her stunning looks, inner beauty or charming personality before, but something had changed in their sixth year. His heart beat faster whenever she smiled at him or laughed at his jokes, his skin tingled whenever she hugged him tightly or nudged him playfully in the side and his brain buzzed with sexual images whenever she challenged him in academic debates or teased him with sexy smiles.

He realized that it wasn't okay to have sexual dreams about your best female friend, masturbate to images of her womanly curves and luscious lips or daydream about the sweetness of her kisses. His whole mind was occupied by the beautiful, good-hearted and smart Camille Greengrass. He had fallen head over heels in love with her. But he couldn't confess his feelings to her because Regulus Black didn't know how a healthy, trust-filled romance full of love worked. He didn't do love, romantic dinner dates and midnight strolls. Naturally, Regulus had been attracted to many girls, dated them for a few weeks and engaged with them in passion-filled snogs or lust-driven shags, but he had never been in love with them. He has always thought that true love was a hoax. To truly love someone, you must be able to trust another with your life, accept all of their assets and flaws, tolerate all of their quirks and bad moods and put their wishes and life dreams first. Regulus guessed that his she-devil of a mum's abuse had destroyed his ability to trust a woman unconditionally and be his true self around her. Sure, he had always been able to be himself around his dad and his best friend Severus, but they didn't long to spend the rest of their lives with him in a romantical way or tolerate his moods and quirks.

He feared that his heart would be shattered into a million pieces by a woman who knew his true self. If his mum, the woman who had carried him for nine months in her belly and birthed him in a painful, difficult ten-hour delivery, couldn't love him and relished in his pain instead, how could another woman love him? But in his therapeutic chats with Camille and in his heart to heart talks with Severus, who had opened up about his own suffering under his cruel, alcoholic Muggle father, he learned that he didn't deserve the dark curses of his mum. He was not in the fault. His mother abused her power and exploited his longing for love, happiness, and kindness, to torture him emotionally and physically because she enjoyed seeing innocents wither in pain. Her addiction to the Dark Arts and her blind loyalty to the Dark Lord had turned her into a soulless, sadistic monster who was incapable of love. Thus, he slowly realized that nothing was wrong with him. Not every woman was as deranged and cruel as his mother.

Camille had shown him that she would always be there for him, see the best in him and love him as a friend. He could be himself in her company, enjoy his youth and experience some magical adventures with her. He could trust her with his heart. But the fear of being rejected and messing up their close friendship had prevented him from confessing his love to her. He knew that his brother would call him a coward for not risking everything in the name of love and his true happiness, but he wasn't some reckless, brave Gryffindor. The Sorting Hat hadn't sorted him into Slytherin for nothing. He could keep his emotions at bay, observe his environment patiently and be cunning about how to secure his happily ever after. Thus, he had decided to watch Camille's reactions to his friendly touches, jokes and charming smiles. He had registered that she blushed at his flirty remarks, shivered at his tight hugs and returned his smiles with beaming, beautiful smiles of her own. Merlin, he was in love with this beautiful, outspoken and smart young woman. And judging by her reactions, she might have a crush on him too. He thanked his lucky stars that he had convinced himself to give their love a chance. But he wanted to ask her out outside of Hogwarts. Hence, he had planned to make his perfect date proposal on Severus's wedding day.

Regulus chuckled to himself when he remembered how foolish he had been to wait so long. Naturally, he had wanted to confess his feelings to Camille in a special way and their best friends' wedding had seemed like the perfect location. Severus had encouraged him during his summer visit to New York to go for it, confess his feelings to Camille and be blissfully happy with his true love. He teased him that Camille was so smitten with him that it was a miracle that they weren't already tearing each other's clothes off and shagging like rabbits. Hell, he claimed that the sexual tension between them was electrifying and that he would bet his money on them being married next. He scolded Regulus for letting himself be controlled by his insecurities and fears of rejection. Camille would never say "no" to his dating proposal, for she had confessed to Olivia ages ago that she was deeply attracted to Regulus's sapphire eyes, handsome smiles and ripped body as well as to his gentle soul, funny nature and protective streak. Merlin, he couldn't understand why they wasted so much time on tiptoeing around each other, suffering in heartbreak and battling their anxiety and self-confidence issues. Life was too short to waste time on waiting for special moments.

If someone was in love with somebody, everything would be special about their love. Thus, he could confess his feelings for Camille on the dusty floor of the Ancient Runes classroom or the stands of the Quidditch stadium. It only mattered to her that he returned her feelings and finally acted upon them. Although Regulus had seen the merit of Severus's advice, he vowed to wait and woo Camille on Severus's wedding. Severus had shaken his ebony locks and mumbled that he admired him for his self-restraint and patience. He hadn't been able to suppress his hormone-filled desire and love-fueled passion for Olivia that long. Perhaps, he should award him a medal for being the only teenaged guy who could control his hormones and heart with a cool as a cucumber air. Regulus had only laughed at his best mate and admitted that he didn't know the half of it. Merlin, he needed to take a cold shower daily and remind his subconsciousness that it wasn't helpful to conjure up sexual fantasies of Camille.

Regulus smiled at himself. Thanks to his lucky stars, his plan had worked perfectly. Camille had looked to die for in her sexy dress, smiled happily at the happiness of her friends and celebrated their wedding with numerous close dances with him. It had felt so perfect to hold her tightly in his arms, sway with her to the tunes of the romantic music and lose himself in her Jade eyes. He hadn't been able to help himself and blurted out in an ungraceful way that he was in love with her at the end of one slow love song. Camille had beamed at him, caressed his face lovingly and replied in a teary voice, "I'm also in love with you, Regulus. You are my best friend with a heart of gold, killer abs to die for and the sexiest smile on earth. I'm ecstatic that you finally managed to throw caution to the wind and confess your feelings to me. If you hadn't made a move tonight, I would have indulged some Firewhiskey, led you in an empty alcove and snogged you senseless. So, thanks for sparing me this embarrassment." She uttered in a playful voice and kissed him passionately on the lips. He had returned her kisses with vigor, caressed her back and left arm lovingly and mumbled in a dazed voice, "Merlin, I must be dreaming. Thank you for making me the happiest best man in history, Camille. I promise that you won't regret dating me." They had stayed in each other's embrace, basking in the physical warmth of each other and beaming like two loons.

Severus had approached them with a happy smile, clapped Regulus brotherly on the back and smirked at Camille. "If he hadn't declared his undying love for you tonight, I would have forced him to apparate into your room and cite a romantic Sonnet to you with some nifty spells. I'm overjoyed that he finally had the guts to be honest with you, Camille. Haven't I mentioned yesterday, that your biggest wish would come true today? And I didn't mean witnessing your best friend getting married to some sarcastic grouch. I trust that I will be the best man at your wedding, Reg. Because you couldn't possibly find someone who can retell the most embarrassing stories about you with more dark humor." Severus stated in a playful tone and left the new couple to dance up a firestorm with his beautiful bride Olivia.

Regulus had only rolled his eyes, mumbled, "Sometimes, he can really be insufferable, but I can't help myself but love him", to a laughing Camille and joined into her laughter. They had spent the rest of the evening holding hands, dancing, kissing and celebrating their friends' wedding with laughter, liquor, and karaoke. They had fallen into an exhausted sleep in some guest room at Prince Manor with their limbs intertwined and feeling blissfully happy. He had left Prince Manor this morning with some passionate good-bye kisses and the promise that he would take Camille out on their first dinner date at 6 PM in the trendy London restaurant, Coco & Claire. He would ask her to join him on a cozy one-week skiing trip to St. Moritz after they had celebrated Yule with their friends and families. He trusted that she would say "yes" to their trip with a rapturous embrace so that they could enjoy some loved-up alone time outside of Hogwarts.

He had just wanted to check out his wardrobe for a stylish outfit when his distressed-looking dad burst into his room. Seeing his disheveled suit, reddened sapphire eyes and heavily breathing chest, Regulus feared the worst. "Dad, is something up? You look worse for wear. Did something happen to Sirius or did the wicked witch break out of her ward?", Regulus asked in a panicked voice and approached his dad with quick steps. Orion blinked at him, shook his head and clutched his hands gently. He looked at him with euphorically twinkling sapphire eyes and uttered in a soft voice, "No, Reg. Everything is alright. Sirius is probably nursing a hangover at the moment and your crazy bitch of a mum is most likely driving her healers into madness with her lunatic ramblings about the Dark Lord right know. You don't have to be afraid of her. She will never harm you again, my son." He squeezed his right hand tightly to stress the honesty of his words.

Regulus let out a relieved breath, calmed himself down and eyed his dad suspiciously. What had put his controlled dad in such a state? Was he developing the first signs of Alzheimer's or had he taken some drugs? Sure, his dad often times drank too much, walked through the halls of 12 Grimmauld Place with a sad face and loathed his job as the CEO of Black Investment. But he has always kept his cool. And the sparkle of euphoria in his blue eyes really troubled him, for he had never seen it before. "If everything is alright, dad, why did you burst into my room looking like a kid that is about to fly on a dragon? Something is clearly bothering you," Regulus implored in an empathetic voice. His dad laughed amusedly at him and replied in his deep baritone, "Nothing is wrong with me, my boy. I haven't felt this good in nearly twenty years. You need to tell me everything about the wedding of your best friend, Severus Prince. Did it take place at Prince Manor? And was his mother Eileen in attendance wearing an amber ring?" Orion inquired with hopeful sparkling eyes.

Regulus didn't understand a thing. Why was his dad suddenly interested in Severus's wedding? And the ring of his mum? He had always treated him with polite interest whenever he had been at Grimmauld Place – praising him for his high marks, new inventions in Potions and Spellcrafting as well as excellent dueling skills. But he had never asked him a personal question or inquired about his mum. Hang on. Why did his dad know the first name of Ms. Prince? Regulus decided to answer his dad's question and deduce why he was suddenly so interested in Severus's personal life. It couldn't be because of his wedding to Olivia Fawley. Orion wasn't one for gossip.

Thus, Regulus stated in a steady voice, "I don't know why you are suddenly so interested in Severus, but if it will calm down your escalating heartbeat, I will answer any of your questions to the best of my knowledge. Yes, Severus married his Hogwarts sweetheart Olivia Fawley in a low-key Winter Wedding yesterday at Prince Manor. As his best men, I helped to calm down his wedding jitters with some jokes and optimistic words. It was a lovely wedding ceremony full of love, happiness, and laughter. Naturally, his mum Eileen was in attendance. She returned to the Wizarding world roughly eighteen months ago, reconciled with her parents and took on a position as the head of the research department at Prince Potions after her recovery. I believe that she was wearing a white-golden ring with an amber center stone and a matching amber talisman. Why are you interested in Ms. Prince jewelry? And how did you know that she possesses an amber ring?" He asked in a puzzled voice.

Orion mumbled, "I was right, she still loves me", in a dazed voice, before he answered his son's burning questions, "Eileen Prince is the love of my life. I wanted to run away with her in April 1959. The amber ring is my promise ring to her. Regulus, you need to help me with arranging a meeting with her at Prince Manor. I have to see her again to clarify some things about our past. Please, my son, you have to help me. I can't live any longer without her." A stunned Regulus looked in shock at his dad.


	8. Chapter 7 – Heartbreaks can't hurt you if you don't have a heart!

Walburga Black's room, Ward for Mental Diseases, St. Mungo's, December 1978

Walburga Black tried to fight the compulsion of her Healing Potions. Her blood graved the allure of Dark Magic and her mind was thirsty for the newest reports of the Dark Lord's victories. She couldn't wait to be out of here, see Orion pleading for mercy in front of her feet and join in onto the Dark Lord's Mudblood and Muggle hunting. She still couldn't believe how Regulus could betray her like this. He was such a weak, Muggle-loving and cowardly boy like his father. It should be an honor for him to serve the Dark Lord as a mere teenager, be branded with his Mark and help cleanse the Wizarding world of the Mudbloods, Blood-traitors and Dumbledore's fools. But how had Regulus reacted to her idea of presenting him to the Dark Lord? He had been scared shitless, called her a heartless, crazy monster and flooed to his dad's office at Black Investment before she could stop him and torture him for his disobedience. Merlin, what had she done wrong that she had parented two weak, spineless and Muggle-loving sons?

She had tried to break their spirits from the beginning with dark curses, teachings in Pure-blood supremacy and preaching the Dark Lord's agenda. But somehow, her sons had withered under her curses crying for mercy and their dad, instead of turning into perfect Pure-blooded sons who promised that they would never disobey her again. She hadn't been able to break them completely. She had never felt the satisfaction of reducing her sons into soulless, conscienceless dark wizards that tortured their house-elves with a sadistic gleam in their eyes and invented new dark curses. How could her indoctrination have gone so wrong? Hell, it wasn't genes, for the love child of her and Sebastian Lestrange could never end up in Gryffindor according to his genetic code. She had been drawn to the darkly handsome, married Lestrange heir because of his blind loyalty to the Dark Lord, practice of the Dark Arts and sadistic relish in the pain of his filthy Mudblood victims. Damn, seeing him cast a Cruciatus Curse on one of her worthless, magic-thieving Mudblood classmates had turned her on. But witnessing him reducing a filthy, powerless Muggle into a bloodied heap with some Slicing Curses had electrified her skin and let her veins buzz with desire. She had seduced him after one of their Muggle hunting tours and loved the rough, animalistic sex as well as his desire to mark her as his own with some pleasurable lovebites.

She knew that it was wrong of her to seduce a married father of two, but she didn't give a fuck about his family. She wanted to be fucked by him, feel the tingle of Dark Magic on her skin and be filled with his powerful seed. Pure-bloods married for prestige, blood purity and wealth. They never married for love and most of their marriages were an arranged business deal to increase their wealth, social standing and prestige as well as to continue their bloodlines. Thus, most Pure-bloods had their sordid affairs in a desperate need to satisfy their hunger for passionate sex and desire for kinky sex acts. Faithfulness was a foreign word in a Pure-blooded marriage, although it was only socially acceptable for wizards to have several mistresses. Witches, who satisfied their sexual needs with lovers, were treated as social outcasts. They were sex-crazy whores who sullied their family names and humiliated their spouses with mail-man's children. Walburga snorted darkly. She hadn't deluded herself into thinking that Sebastian loved her. Sebastian had sexual affairs with many women and although he had shagged her senseless multiple times a week, she knew that she wasn't his favorite mistress.

She only was a means to live out his hunger for wild sex and Dark Magic filled duel sessions as well as a tool to take revenge on Orion Black. To know that he fucked the fiancée of the Black heir, whose father had nearly bankrupted his family, got him off. Walburga chuckled wickedly to herself in remembrance. If Sebastian had known how much Orion hated his female second cousin turned fiancée, he would have probably ended their sordid affair after their first time. Merlin, Orion hadn't given a fuck about her, tried to annul their marriage contract by citing health risks for their offsprings due to their close relation and her mental instability and cheated on her for over two year with his Hogwarts sweetheart, Eileen Prince. He had probably hoped daily that she would be arrested on her Muggle hunting trips by Aurors, committed to a Mental health ward for her Dark Arts addiction or wounded fatally in one of her Dark Magic dueling sessions. He looked at her with cold fury and disgust in his sapphire eyes, refused to touch her and vowed that he would marry her when hell freezes over.

Naturally, Walburga also hadn't given a fuck about her icky, adventure-seeking younger second cousin turned fiancé. She loathed him for his desire to disrespect the Black name by becoming a curse-breaker, for his weak breakdowns citing the pressure of being the Black heir as a catalyst and his friendliness to Mud-bloods and Half-bloods. He hadn't the stomach to torture a Mudblood or Muggle with dark curses and mocked the Dark Lord's agenda. If she hadn't needed him to rescue the blood purity and social standing of the Blacks, she would have killed him in his teens. Merlin, his nauseating puppy love with the mysterious, charming Prince heiress, Eileen Prince, was a reason to avada kedavra him. The loved-up teenagers deluded themselves into thinking that she wasn't aware of their sweet romance and couldn't sabotage their love. She had known all about their romantic getaways to Paris, New York, and St. Moritz, their disgusting outings into the Muggle world and their loved-up strolls around the Black Lake. She couldn't believe how Orion could be so stupid to risk everything for his love.

Eileen had wrapped him so tightly around her finger that he had proposed marriage to her with a stunning, expensive amber promise ring, bought a cottage for them from his grandmother's inheritance and decided to play the run-away groom a few days before their Spring Wedding. He was so blinded by his desire and love for the obsidian-eyed seductress that he would drag the Black name through the mud, humiliate her in the Wizarding world and face being disowned by his father Arcturus. Walburga couldn't fathom how he could sacrifice everything in the name of love, a hoax that wasn't even real. Sure, she would risk everything for her powerful, deadly handsome and ruthless Dark Lord in a heartbeat. If he hadn't been asexual, regarded sex as a disgusting, animalistic act and solely focused on ruling the Wizarding world, she would have done anything to be his Dark Lady, bear his children and marry him. But to sacrifice his status, wealth and family bonds to shack up with some Potions-crazy, Muggle-obsessed and art-loving girl? Walburga had vowed to destroy Orion's happily ever after. She wouldn't let him get away with humiliating her and mocking the blood purity of their ancestors. She would destroy his romance, reduce him to a heartbroken fool and trap him in a loveless marriage.

Thus, she had followed them on one of their outings into the Muggle world in disguise. Albeit she loathed Eileen, she must admit that she loved the quality of Prince Potions. The Princes really knew how to brew an effective, mint-tasting Polyjuice Potion that allowed her to morph into her favorite fashion designer and stalk them on their outing to the London Art gallery. She had nearly vomited when she saw how they kissed each other senseless, declared their love for each other and walked through the gallery with blissfully happy smiles. She had rolled her eyes on how Orion tried to impress Eileen by gushing about one art piece. All she could see was a mess of colorful lines that looked as if the painter had been on some fancy Muggle drug. Walburga scoffed at Eileen's passionate art lecture, her smitten smiles and grateful peck on a laughing Orion's cheek. This two would drive her in an early grave with their passionate kisses, desire-filled looks, and loved-up touches. But she had followed them into this gallery to discover some blackmail material or lever to destroy their romance. To her luck, she had observed some filthy Muggle man, who seemed to have fallen in lust at first side with Eileen and tried to impress her with his art expertise.

He was a chocolate brown-haired man with mesmerizing emerald eyes, a slightly hooked Roman nose and a soft jawline in his mid-twenties. Dressed in fitted black slacks and a dark grey jumper, that underlined his muscular, slender figure, and with an amused smirk on his lips, Walburga had to admit that he was quite handsome. While he educated Eileen in his deep baritone on some art pieces and introduced himself as Tobias Snape, a Muggle engineer from Manchester, who loved to venture Art galleries and engage in passionate art debates, Walburga entered his mind with a wandless, nonverbal Legilimens. She gleefully smirked to herself at the images that assaulted her there. This filthy Muggle fantasized about Eileen pleasuring him orally, her riding his hard cock or her withering under him in pleasure. He called her "my mysterious seductress" in his mind, vowed to claim her as his and unhitch her from her curly-haired, blue-eyed male companion.

Walburga left his mind, smiled to herself and formulated a devious plan. This Muggle would be the key to destroy Orion's happiness. She thanked her lucky stars for her inherited Legilimency skills and manipulative personality. She observed with a cackle how sweet, innocent and naïve Eileen seemed to be awed by the man's expertise in art and chatted with him happily about the next art pieces. Orion looked at his Muggle rival with a deadly glare, growled jealously at him and moved close to his girlfriend to put his arm possessively around her waist. He seemed to distrust the motives of this friendly smiling man, for he also entered his mind to see what his rival thought about Eileen. During his Legilimency act, his face turned red in anger and his sapphire eyes flashed with disgust, horror, and rage. He broke their Legilimency connection, tightened his grip around Eileen and uttered in a furious, deadly voice, "Stay the hell away from my fiancée, your creep. If I see you around her for another time, I will break every bone in your body." He had fired off a Stinging Hex at the Muggle, whisked a confused Eileen away to some far-off art pieces, whispered something into her ear and embraced her protectively.

Walburga shook her head at Orion's reckless behavior. His threats had only spurned this Muggle on to woo Eileen. Walburga approached him, got het up over the curly-haired man's behavior and assured him that he shouldn't be intimidated by his threats. If he felt attracted to the ebony-haired beauty, he should try to woo her. Perhaps, she would turn out to be the love of his life. The Muggle thanked her for her encouraging words and vowed to try to smooth things over with the onyx-eyed beauty on another vernissage. He had noticed that she frequented the London Art galleries frequently and mostly alone. This would be his perfect chance to get to know her without her fiancé's jealous eyes and win her over. Walburga advised him to charm his crush with some compliments, stories about his love for art and jokes. To secure that this Muggle would pursue Eileen romantically, Walburga put him under the Imperius Curse. She whispered inside of his mind that he shouldn't stop his romantical pursuit of the onyx-eyed beauty until he could call her his wife. He only needed to be cunning about this, try to win her trust, admiration, and friendship, before he confessed his feelings to her, kissed her passionately and shagged her senseless. But he shouldn't waste any time to tie the knot with her after they had admitted their feelings for each other and live their happily ever after with some kids.

The brunette had blinked owlishly at her, thanked her for her kind advice and wished her a nice day after she had pulled away from his mind. Walburga had said goodbye to him, promised him that he would get the girl in the end and wished him a happy day. She had left the Art gallery in a hurry, apparated back to 12 Grimmauld Place and snuck into Orion's room to steal one of Eileen's love letters. He deluded himself into believing that they would be safe in the bag of his Quidditch kit. Merlin, men sometimes were so easy to read and manipulate. She hastily duplicated the love letter with some Gemini Spell, put it back in Orion's bag and walked into her room to create some sweet love letters in Eileen's handwriting to Tobias Snape. She only needed to charm her magical quill into imitating Eileen's script and let her imagination wander. She mocked Orion for his naivety, insulted him for his sports obsession and disinterest in art and professed her undying love for Tobias. Damn, she loved cutting Orion to the quick and messing with his love life, for she knew that he had planned to leave her for the bewitching Prince heiress in a month.

But she would block his escape route by seducing him into her bed, revealing Eileen's sordid love affair with a Muggle and informing him off Eileen's engagement to the widowed Abraxas Malfoy. Walburga didn't know which Charms or Potions the Prince heiress used, but they had to be highly potent and effective, for the rich aristocrat Abraxas Malfoy had flirted shamelessly with her on some social gatherings. To Orion's despair, he hadn't been able to save Eileen from his flirting and wooing, because he was officially engaged to his older female cousin, set to marry her in May, and couldn't step up for Eileen without causing a scene. In the eyes of the upper Wizarding society, Eileen was an unmarried, beautiful young witch who excelled in Potions, attracted many wizards with her mysterious, onyx eyes and inherited a fortune after her parents' death. Besides that, she was admired for her witty personality, keen mind, and kind heart. Thus, Orion had to endure with heated glares, boiling jealousy and displeased sneers, how Eileen chatted politely with Abraxas Malfoy, blushed at his flirty remarks and entertained him with witty stories of her Potions research. She was whisked away into passionate dances with him and gifted with beautiful flowers at the end of every social event.

Orion could only try to spend as much time as possible with Eileen as her best friend, ask her for some intimate dances and reassure her in whispered chats that she was the love of his life and that they would live their happily ever after come May. Walburga had only scoffed at Orion's obvious jealous behavior, envied Eileen for her allure and vowed to use Abraxas Malfoy's crush on the Prince heiress to her advantage. Thank Merlin, she had urged her dear uncle Arcturus to set their wedding in May, for she had found out in mid-April that she was pregnant with Sebastian's love child. She had forgotten to take her Birth Control Potion in March but shagged Sebastian nonetheless multiple times after their Muggle hunting trips. She hadn't been able to control her Dark Magic induced lust and now she was settled with his child. Nobody could find out anything about it, for it would surely force her uncle Arcturus to cancel her wedding to his son Orion and create a huge headlines-producing scandal. She had to seduce Orion with the help of some Love Potion and Aphrodisiacs soon, convince him that she had secured to be pregnant with his child due to some Fertility Potion, trap him in a loveless marriage and stage an early birth.

She couldn't have an abortion, because it was frowned upon in the Magical world and punished with the reduction of your magical powers if you hadn't been raped or carried an unlivable child. Thus, she would have to conceal the true paternity of her child. Thankfully, due to their close relation, she shared many physical features with Orion and Sebastian was also a dark-haired, olive-skinned and grey-eyed man. Walburga would have no difficulties to make Orion believe that he was the child's biological father. Besides that, she planned to bind him to her further with a second child shortly after the birth of their first child. Every respected Pure-blooded family needed an heir and a spare. Hence, she would seduce Orion with the help of some Potions and hard liquor for a second time and birth him a healthy child. Thank Merlin, that the family tree of every Pure-blooded family only displayed children that were born in a legal marriage. It was more convenient for unfaithful wizards who fathered many love children with their mistresses or witches who got pregnant by their first love out of wedlock. One could conceal the true paternity of their offspring easily enough and whisked a love child, that was born in one's teenage years, away into a Wizarding orphanage.

Walburga had heard through the rumor mill that Abraxas Malfoy had asked Eileen Prince for her hand in marriage in April. Thus, she snuck into Orion's room, searched his Quidditch kit for magical pictures of him and Eileen, duplicated some and used them as a guideline for her faked ones of Eileen and Abraxas. She created one picture where Eileen and Abraxas were kissing passionately, another where they were walking hand in hand through Diagon Alley looking besotted with each other and a last one where Abraxas was stroking Eileen's sexy back in a backless dress with hungry eyes with the help of some charms. She concealed her tampering with some dark spells and smiled contently at her handy work. As a next step, she penned a scathing letter to Eileen, where she forced her to announce her engagement to Abraxas Malfoy in the Daily Prophet, taunted her with the fact that she had seduced Orion with some nifty Potions and was now carrying his heir and threatened her to kill her fiancé if she dared to intervene with her plans. To underline the gravity of her words, she attached some samples of a Fertility Potion and a deadly poison mixed with Orion's fragrance as well as some staged pictures of her and Orion between the sheets to her letter.

After she had seduced Orion into her bed, she sent her owl with her letter to Eileen, trusted in her love for Orion and confronted him with Eileen's multiple cheating. Her naïve, smitten fiancée called her a lying whore, vowed to leave her and marry his one true love. But after she had shown him her staged pictures and letters as well as the engagement announcement of Eileen Prince and Abraxas Malfoy in the freshly printed Daily Prophet, Orion checked every piece of evidence for tampering, detected nothing thanks to her Dark Magic and accepted Eileen's deceit. His face turned ashen in shock, his sapphire eyes displayed heartbreak, despair, and disbelief and his posture turned into one of a beaten dog. Even the prospect of becoming a father couldn't heal his wounds and he vowed to make Walburga's life a living hell for her net of lies and manipulations. Walburga had suppressed the urge to laugh in his face and reveal her cunning schemes with cold self-restraint and a calm mask.

She had reached her goal with easiness. Orion had married her in an extravagant May Wedding in the belief that she was carrying his child and that his one true love had betrayed him. Eileen had posed with her fiancé Abraxas Malfoy for multiple society pictures, gushed about him and declared her love for him openly for everyone to see. It was so satisfying to see Orion wallow in heartbreak, self-loathing and unhappiness. Every time his letters to Eileen returned unopened or his Patronus messenger, who was only a sad burlesque of his magnificent Thunderbird, bounced off of Eileen's wards, his heart shattered into million pieces and he mourned his romance gone bad. When the news made headlines that the Prince heiress had left her wealthy fiancé and vanished into the Muggle world, Orion drew hope from Abraxas's misery. But his mind conjured up the love letters between Eileen and this Muggle creep, Tobias Snape, and he realized that Eileen had played both wizards. Walburga had cackled gleefully in her mind, satisfied that her scheme with the filthy Muggle Tobias Snape was a full success. Eileen must have been lonely, fearful of marrying the widowed dark wizard, Abraxas Malfoy, and heartbroken by meeting her lost lover, Orion Black, on every social event. Thus, it must have been easy for the Muggle Tobias Snape to charm her with his interests in art, literature and music and the prospect of starting fresh in the Muggle world.

He must have been able to seduce her, bind her to him with love declarations and whisk her away to the aisle. Merlin, Walburga would have never thought that she could chase away Eileen from the Wizarding world with her network of intrigues. Naturally, the bitch had pinned her a hateful message - "You have won. May you rest in hell for your crimes." – but otherwise, she had left her alone and vanished into the Muggle world without a trace. Walburga had read that her desperate, loving parents were searching her in the Muggle world, but came up empty-handed despite their numerous investigations. Eileen Prince had always been smart and if she wanted to conceal her life in the Muggle world, she could certainly accomplish it. Sure, it was odd that nobody could trace her wand or magical energies, but Walburga believed that she had renounced her magic. Besides that, the filthy Muggle Tobias Snape hadn't seemed like a man who would tolerate a witch. Perhaps, he had broken her wand and trapped her in the basement for her devil's worship.

Walburga had forgotten the sad life story of Eileen Prince until her son, Sirius, mentioned some oddball Slytherin Half-blood that he loved to prank with his mates. His name was Severus Snape and he was a descendant of the Princes. Walburga was shocked. Eileen had managed to have a son who was obsessed with the Dark Arts and sorted into Slytherin? And he was born around the time of Sirius's birth? Walburga had managed to get a copy of his birth certificate with the help of the Dark Lord's spies in the Ministry. Severus was born on January 9th, 1960. Walburga's veins turned ice cold. Eileen Prince had given birth to the love child of Orion, concealed his true paternity with some charms and brought him up in the Muggle world. The real Black heir was wearing tattered clothes, suffering under bad hygiene, poverty, and neglect. She had vowed to do anything in her power to break him and make him suffer. Nobody could ever find out about his true identity. But her plans had backfired, for the slimy bastard didn't break under the bullying of her son Sirius and his band of misfits and became the best friend of her son Regulus. She had to tolerate him in her home, see him turning into a powerful, self-confident wizard, who was loved-up with the Fawley heiress, and witness him alienating Regulus from his allegiance to the Dark Lord. She vowed to destroy him, her weak husband and his pathetic true love as soon as she would be out of her prison. No one could get away with tampering with her plans without suffering the consequences: torture and death.


	9. Chapter 8 - Heartbreaks can turn you into an ass!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is rated M for it contains descriptions of a sexual nature. If this isn't your cup of tea, please skip this chapter.

James's room, Potter Manor, Countryside in Suffolk, December 1978

James Potter lounged sleep-riddled on his bed. His favorite house-elf, Tipsy, had brought him the morning newspaper minutes ago. He only read this drivel to be up to date with the gossip in the Wizarding world and the crimes of Lord Voldemort and his band of evil misfits, although the Daily Prophet didn't report as much about them as they should. It was a scandal that most wizards and witches weren't aware of the danger they were currently living in. Instead of reporting the missing Muggle-borns, vile attacks on Half-bloods and the sightings of the glowing Dark Marks in the sky above Muggle villages, the Daily Prophet focused most of his journalism on lashing out against the Ministry and writing home stories of the wealthy Wizarding families. If he didn't know it better, he would guess that the owner of the newspaper was in league with Lord Voldemort. Looking on today's front page, he nearly choked on his morning coffee.

His Hogwarts nemesis, Lily's ex-best friend, Severus Snape, had tied the knot with the beautiful, alluring Olivia Fawley? Damn, how come that this ugly, Dark Arts obsessed upstart, had managed to walk a stunning, happily smiling woman down the aisle before he could? He couldn't understand what all the hysteria on Severus Snape was about. Sure, he had returned to their sixth year in Hogwarts with a self-confident walk, muscled figure and washed ebony locks, but he had still been the socially awkward, angry teenaged boy with a bad temper, broken home and Pure-blood supremacy ideals. Hell, he might have been able to reconcile with his wealthy grandparents, the owners of Prince Potions, dress in new, fitted designer clothes, improve his body hygiene and land himself a new female best friend, but he had still screamed anger issue, Dark Arts obsession and being a slimy cunning snake. He might have been able to fool the goodhearted, naïve Olivia Fawley, who had had an inexplicable crush on him for years, his new mixed-houses group of friends and the majority of the Hogwarts's students, but he hadn't been able to fool the Marauders. They had known that his focus on his studies in Potions, DADA and Charms, his alienation from his evil Slytherin buddies and his new calm personality had only been an act to hide his nefarious actions.

Sure, they hadn't been able to provoke him into entertaining teenage duels in the corridors, lash outs against Muggle-borns and Muggles in the Great Hall and Dark Arts inspired pranks, but one hotheaded, Dark Arts obsessed, and angry teenager couldn't turn overnight into a relaxed, Voldemort cursing, and socially friendly Hogwarts heartthrob. Thus, Sirius and he had stalked him with the Marauder's Map and observed that he vanished into an unknown room in the Dungeons, oftentimes accompanied by his guardian angel, Olivia Fawley. They could only imagine that he had brainwashed her, seduced her to the dark side and was brewing nefarious dark potions and poisons with her. They had felt the urge to stop his dark deeds and rescue Olivia from his evil clutches. Thus, Sirius and he had followed the dots on their map, hidden under his Invisibility cloak and snuck a peek into the classroom thanks to some old spell that Sirius had found in the Black's library. He now wished that he hadn't been able to see through the door, for what he had seen branded itself in his brain for eternity.

Snape and Fawley had sitten on a dusty bench, fully engaged in a hot make-out session. Their potion had been kept under a Stasis Charm, cooling down and emanating a golden glow. But the loved-up couple had had only eyes for each other. Oliva had sitten astride on his lap, kissed him passionately and run her left hand through his shiny, ebony locks, while her right hand lifted up his shirt and exposed rock hard alabaster abs. He had snogged her senseless, moaned sexily and massaged her sexy bum with his right hand, while his left hand stroked her perky left breast gently. James had gotten turned on by Snape's moans and his muscular body. Who would have thought that he hid such smooth, muscle-ripped porcelain skin under his robes? Transfixed, he had looked longingly at his body and felt his cock harden. A tiny voice inside of his head had screamed to turn around, cancel the spell and run to the Gryffindor Common Room, for it was creepy as hell to observe a make-out session of his Hogwarts nemesis, intrude on the privacy of a loved-up couple and be turned on sexually by the bane of his existence, Severus Snape. But he had ignored the voice, gulped audibly and fantasized about Snape's sexy body withering beneath him in passion and moaning in desire.

His fantasies had only been interrupted by Sirius, who had canceled his spell and whispered in his husky baritone into his ear, "I think it is best that we leave Snivellus to his hook-up session and search a hidden alcove for us. I don't know about you, but I'm really turned on and want to suck your cock now." James had turned around abruptly, kissed his boyfriend hard on the lips and backed him into a hidden alcove. He had never been able to deny Sirius's blowjob offers, for he had a talented mouth and tongue and could take him deep throat. While Sirius had zipped down his fly, taken out his hard cock and engulfed it into his mouth, James forgot everything around them and was solely focused on his pleasure. He knew that he hadn't treated Sirius fairly, for he kept receiving blowjobs from him or fucked him senseless in hidden alcoves, empty classrooms or the Room of Requirement without showing him his love and affection daily in the Great Hall. Homosexuality was a taboo topic in the Wizarding world and men or women who publicly lived out their same-sex relationships were treated as social outcasts and criminals. Thus, the majority of the homosexual, bisexual, transsexual or pansexual wizards and witches hid their sexuality in dark alcoves at Hogwarts, shady, top-secret Wizarding clubs or shabby, dark motel rooms. They had only been able to live out their sexuality openly in gay Muggle bars.

James had known that he was attracted to men in his fourth year. He had always admired the fit bodies of his Quidditch teammates and Sirius's handsome face, but he had only noticed in his fourth year, that he wanked to mental images of a male muscular chest, round bum or erect cock. He had observed that he got a hard-on quicker by fantasizing about frenzied kisses with Sirius than fantasizing about Lily's naked breasts. He had realized that he was more attracted to men than to women, although he had had his first sexual experience with a fifth year Hufflepuff girl in his third year after a booze-filled Quidditch victory party. He had enjoyed the sex, although it had been over real quick due to his inexperience and alcohol-riddled mind and he hadn't experienced the mind-boggling orgasm his Quidditch mates bragged about. But he had thought that he would experience his toe-curling orgasms with practice, thus he had engaged in many sexual flings with various girls in his third year. However, although he had learned how to pleasure a woman with various methods and in manifold positions and started to enjoy sex more, he always felt that he missed something.

Only after he had come to terms with his sexuality in his fourth year, snogged a gentle Ravenclaw boy hidden in a dark niche behind the greenhouses at night and engaged in his first homosexual affair with him, he knew that he was more attracted to men than to women. Naturally, he still had had a huge crush on Lily Evans and vowed to make her fall in love with him, marry him and bear his children, because she was a stunning, beautiful and feisty young woman with a good heart, gentle soul and keen mind as well as the ideal future Mrs. Potter. In his darkest hours, he had realized that it wouldn't be fair to marry Lily if he was more attracted to men and mainly used her to be his trophy wife and continue the Potter bloodline, but he hadn't been able to disengage himself from his childhood dreams. James had always dreamed about having a beautiful, kind wife and a house full of happy, Quidditch-obsessed and funny children. His attraction to men wouldn't destroy his dream. He would live out his homosexuality until he got married to Lily and learn how to be in love with her. Besides that, he would definitely love her as the mother of his children and his best female friend. He could try to enjoy their sex life and satisfy his needs for male anatomy with gay porn.

But he couldn't let the Potter bloodline die out with him. He had longed to be a dad and he could only achieve this dream with a woman. Tragically, all experiments with potions that allowed male couples to conceive had only ended in the death of the fetus at an early stage or the death of the carrier later on in his pregnancy. Thus, they sadly weren't an option for him. He realized that he could technically ask a friendly single woman or lesbian couple to carry his children, but he would need to come out as gay to his friends and family as well as co-parent his children with many adults. Most likely, his children would have at least two dads and one mum, if he decided to parent them with his male partner. He could only imagine that his children got confused and he needed to share their love with various parental figures. It wasn't an option for him, for he wouldn't commit public suicide by coming out as gay and break his old-fashioned, conservative parents' hearts. They had gone through so many hardships to conceive him, their miracle boy, in their late 40's, that he couldn't disappoint them. He would need to hide his attraction to men as well as love for Sirius and try to be happy in his family life with Lily.

James shook his head. How naïve he had been as a sixteen-year-old teenaged boy. He crumpled the newspaper and let out an anguished cry. How come that this slimy git can openly live out his love? He bet that Olivia Fawley would be pregnant in no time and give birth to Snivellus's dark-haired, obsidian-eyed brat as soon as next year. Merlin, they will probably have at least four children that will terrorize the teachers at Hogwarts with their know-it-all-attitude, nefarious pranks, and mad potions skills. He could only hope that they would inherit their mother's nose and sunny nature, for the Wizarding world couldn't deal to be settled with more hooked-nosed, grumpy Princes. He must admit that Olivia and Snivellus were valuable assets to the Order of the Phoenix with their expertise in Healing, Charms, Potions, DADA and Spellcrafting, but he preferred that he only had to endure Snivellus's presence once in a month at the Order meetings. It was pretty convenient that they lived in New York, finished their studies at the prestigious Merlin Institute and only supported the Order with their academical research, newly invented Potions and newly crafted spells. He knew that several Death Eaters had been captured thanks to Snivellus's Tracking Spells and Combat Curses, that various Order members had only survived thanks to his Blood-Transfering Spell and Internal-Injuries-Healing Potion and that the Aurors relayed heavily on his Wiretapping Charm and Communication Spells, but Severus Prince was in his eyes still the slimy, angry teenaged Slytherin.

James chuckled darkly. A snake would never change its colors. Albeit his track record might suggest that Snivellus was loyal to Dumbledore and fought for the victory of the Order, he didn't trust him fully. Sirius had mentioned to him that Snivellus was highly skilled in Mind Magic, Legilimency as well as Occlumency. Who could vow to one hundred percent that he wasn't a spy for Voldemort, read the minds of Order members and wiretapped their conversations so that he could disclose everything to his beloved Dark Lord? He could be playing them like a fiddle, hiding his nefarious motives behind his Occlumency shields and deluding the Order, Aurors, and Dumbledore with his nifty inventions. Perhaps, he was even brewing some deadly, dark poisons for the Dark Lord or teaching Dark Magic curses to the Death Eaters right now instead of enjoying his honeymoon. A tiny voice screamed inside of his head that his suspicions against Snivellus didn't make any sense and that he was turning into a paranoid, jealous and unhappy ass, who couldn't let go of his teenage grudges and hatred for Slytherin. But he squashed the logical part of his brain and wallowed in his jealousy and self-pity instead.

He missed Sirius's passionate kisses, his gentle touches, and his tight hugs. Their relationship had finally evolved into a sordid love affair after Sirius had kissed him passionately on the lips and confessed his feelings for him in their sixth year. He had had a huge crush on his best mate since his fifth year and been overjoyed that he reciprocated his feelings. Merlin, their final two years at Hogwarts had been filled with passionate, fantastic sex, long, intimate cuddle sessions in the Room of Requirement and hot, desire-filled make-out sessions in hidden alcoves. Only Remus had been aware of their tragic love affair and scolded him for stringing Sirius along as well as using Lily as his broodmare. In his darkest hours, James acknowledged that it hadn't been fair to Sirius and Lily to shag Sirius while he had been in a steady, committed relationship with Lily. Hell, he had even shagged Sirius on the morning of his marriage proposal to Lily. He realized that he had been a selfish, cowardly ass for cheating on Lily with Sirius. But he hadn't been able to resist his one true love, bask in his rough kisses, passionate love declarations as well as their mind-boggling love making and calmed his bad conceive by stating that he would break things off with Sirius six months before his wedding.

He knew that he had hurt Sirius deeply with his decision to marry Lily, for his best mate had always hoped that their love would be strong enough to withstand his unfulfilled wish to have children. Naturally, James had been open with Sirius from the beginning, confessed to him that he would leave him for a marriage with Lily in the end, because he longed to be a dad. Sirius had looked at him with sad grey eyes and suggested to adopt some children or find a lesbian couple who would be willing to co-parent children with them. But James had squeezed his dreams of a modern family and hissed at him, that they would never be able to live out their love openly in the Wizarding world. The Ministry wouldn't approve of a bisexual Auror and the Order would cast a gay couple out. If Sirius wanted to fulfill his dream of becoming an Auror and fight Voldemort and his Death Eaters till the end, they would have to hide their sexual orientation. It would be easy enough for Sirius to refute rumors because he was known as a heart-throb. His openly lived out flings with girls at Hogwarts would certainly squash any raised eyebrows at their close relationship. In the eyes of the Order, they had to be best mates who loved each other, trusted one another blindly and risked their lives for each other. They couldn't be more.

Thus, he had shattered Sirius's heart into a million pieces by leaving him for his chance at a happy family. His heart hurt like hell whenever he remembered Sirius's tear-stricken face, anguished cries, and outstretched hand. The Black heir had pleaded with him to not end their romance, betray their one true love and trap himself in an unhappy, loveless marriage. But James had suppressed his feelings, put on a cold mask and left his ex-lover as a crying, desperate mess on the couch in his flat. He knew deep down in his bones, that their breakup would crush Sirius. Merlin, thanks to the abuse from his she-devil of a mum and the dark secret about his true biological dad, Sirius had always feared that he was genetically a sadistic monster who couldn't be loved unconditionally, accepted completely and good from the bottom of his heart. He was prone to depression, anxiety and alcohol addiction. The reckless Gryffindor tried to drown his sorrows in hard liquor, meaningless sex, and risky duels. James knew that Sirius feared to turn out like his biological parents, mistrusted his inner darkness and searched desperately for someone who could chase away his fears, love him deeply and complete him. He had found that someone in James and yet, he had still left him in the end for someone else who could give him something that he couldn't – children.

Naturally, Sirius has coped with their romance gone bad with his old vices – having meaningless sex with men and women, indulging in too much alcohol and obsessing about ways on how to defeat Voldemort and his Death Eaters. He jumped into reckless Auror missions, risky under-cover work for the Order and dangerous duel sessions. James feared that he would receive a Patronus message of his brother Regulus or one of his colleagues with the news that he was hurt badly or killed in battle. He knew that he could only blame himself for Sirius's downward spiral and Lily's unhappiness. His desire to have a family threw the most important humans in his life into despair. He admitted that he was a heartless, cold ass for demanding of his ex-lover to be his happy best man at his wedding as well as his supportive, caring best friend. But he couldn't help himself. He needed Sirius in his life. And if he couldn't wake up to him every morning, enjoy laughter and caresses-filled movie nights with him and kiss him passionately on the lips every day, he needed to have his partner in crime by his side as his best friend.

The Potter heir knew that he was an unfaithful bastard to his fiancée Lily and that their marriage would most likely crumble down due to his lies, deceit, and unfaithfulness. He noticed that Lily wasn't blissfully happy in his company, gazed at him with lovey-dovey eyes and wanted to jump his bones whenever she saw him. On the contrary, she oftentimes seemed sad in his company, gazed at him with her stunning emerald eyes full of regret and refused to have sex with him before their wedding night. She stated that she wanted to make love to him for the first time as a married couple. James guessed that this was a common dream of Muggle-born girls, accepted her wishes and only engaged in awkward make-out sessions with her. Their kisses felt somewhat bitter-sweet and their close hugs slightly cold. He guessed that his love for Sirius influenced his desire for Lily and he suspected that his fiancée was unrequited in love with someone else. But he vowed to marry her, for she was his only chance of having a family without coming out as homosexual. Sometimes, heartbreaks were necessary to fulfill your dreams.


	10. Chapter 9 - Heartbreaks can be healed by the love of your soulmate!

Remus's flat, Montmartre, Paris, December 1978

Remus Lupin sipped on his café latte and gazed at the newest issue of the Daily Prophet. He read it every day to keep up to date with the latest news in the Wizarding world of Great Britain because he missed his home country and feared the increasing power of Voldemort and his masked followers. A huge smile manifested itself on his scar-covered face when he looked at a magical picture of the blissfully happy newlyweds, Severus Prince and Olivia Prince-Fawley. Remus was a romantic at heart and a sucker for happy endings. Thus, he felt a warmth shot through his veins at seeing Severus Prince happily married to his Hogwarts sweetheart. Merlin, Severus really deserved to have some happiness, luck, and love in his life. Remus still regretted that he had been a silent bystander in the bullying attacks of his Marauder mates. His conscience had screamed at him to stand up to his friends, call them out for their bullshit and punish them with points lost and friendship detachment. Their attacks on Severus hadn't been some harmless, juvenile pranks on a loathed Hogwarts rival. They had been unfair, mean bullying attacks on a lonely teenaged boy with the intent to hurt, humiliate and break him.

Remus sighed heavily. He knew that it had been his task as the Gryffindor Prefect to put an end to their cruel bullying and protect Severus Snape. Hell, the most important tasks of a Hogwarts Prefect were to look after the welfare of every student, stand up against bullies and take points from rulebreakers. But out of fear to be abandoned by his troublemaker friends, Remus had turned a blind eye to their rule-breaking, bullying, and nefarious pranks. James, Sirius, and Peter had been the first peers who had accepted him completely despite his Lycanthropy. They had included him in their pranks, hung around with him in the Gryffindor Common Room playing Exploding Snap and chatted with him about their hopes and dreams. Naturally, they hadn't been fans of long study hours in the library or Common Room and hadn't been able to understand his enthusiasm for books and academic debates, but they had made him feel like an ordinary wizard. Merlin, they had even learned how to become Animagi to help him through his painful, heartwrenching transformations. Remus had felt indebted to them and feared a life where they wouldn't accompany him during the full moon and leave him to a life of poverty, loneliness, and despair.

The Marauders had made his life colorful, adventurous and livable. Thus, he had acted as the mute bystander in their attacks on Severus Snape. Remus scoffed disgusted with himself. Although the Marauders had been his only friends, how could he have looked on when they tormented a visibly lost, sad and abused teenager? He knew that their attacks on Severus were unfounded, inhumane and inexcusable. Hell, they had cornered him in a hidden corridor four on one, hexed him with humiliating curses and accused him of being the aggressor whenever a teacher caught them. Their actions were despicable for any Gryffindor, for they mocked the qualities of their house. They attacked Severus cowardly behind a corner, four on one and bombarded him with shady curses. Merlin, Sirius, and James stated that they bullied Severus because he existed and was a slimy, cunning and evil Slytherin. How had he been able to cover up for his friends for so long? What did it say about his personality that he had practically worshipped teenagers who tormented someone because he had the audacity to live and be different?

Remus asked himself if he would have been their favorite bullying victim when he had been sorted into Slytherin. Severus and he weren't so different after all. They were both studious, socially awkward and different Half-blood boys with an interest in the Dark Arts and dislike for Quidditch. He also preferred to bury his nose into a good, fascinating DADA tome to flying around the Quidditch pitch on a broom. Besides that, he also loved to observe his peers, make sarcastic remarks about them and spend his free time in the library. Naturally, he enjoyed the Common Room parties or game hours with his mates, but he wasn't a social butterfly like Sirius who entertained a crowd with his funny stories and reckless Quidditch moves. Remus knew deep down in his bones, that Severus and he could have been best mates if they had only bothered to get to know each other and let their house prejudices rest. He would actually count Severus Prince to his close group of friends now, for he worked with him on breaking the Death Eaters Dark Magic wards for the Order, talked in friendly chats about his studies and private life with him and got supplied with a freshly brewed Wolfsbane Potion daily in the week prior to any upcoming full moon by him.

Severus had invented the potion with the Head Potioneer of Prince Potions, Damocles Belby, in 1976 and asked Remus to be a test subject in their trial. Remus had been ecstatic and overjoyed at the prospect of keeping his mental faculties after his transformation as well as reducing the pain during his transformation and agreed to the trial phase with a grateful smile. He hadn't been able to believe that his Hogwarts nemesis was gracious enough to let bygones be bygones and help him through his transformations. The Wolfsbane Potion was a complex and expensive potion and required a Potions genius to brew it. Thus, he was utterly speechless when Severus had offered him to brew this potion for free as compensation for his efforts as a test subject. Due to Severus's generosity, Remus would receive the potion lifelong for free and Severus had even added some dark chocolate flavor to it after Remus had complained about its awful taste. But Severus hadn't only helped Remus in making his transformations less difficult. He had also promised him to work on a cure for Lycanthropy and include Remus in his trials.

Besides that, he had offered him a position as a Dark Arts expert at Prince Potions after he had finished his studies in DADA at the renown Le Fay Institut de la Magie in Paris. At first, Remus had declined his offer for he didn't want to be treated as a charity case and only get a job thanks to vitamin B. But Severus had assured him that he only wanted to hire Remus due to his expertise in DADA and academic mindset. Furthermore, it would make their efforts of finding a cure for Lycanthropy easier, if Remus moved back to Britain after his studies and was always available to the researchers at Prince Potions. Thence, Remus had accepted his job offer with tears in his eyes and vowed to get top marks on his DADA degree at the Le Fay Institut de la Magie in Paris. Remus still couldn't fathom what a happy turn his life had taken after his Hogwarts graduation. Thanks to his excellent grades, his fluency in French – his beloved mum, Hope Lupin, née Howell, was a Half-French Muggle girl who had fallen head over heels in love with his dad, Lyall Lupin, when he had rescued her from a Boggart in a dark forest in Cardiff – and the tolerance policy for werewolves by the French Ministry for Magic, Remus had been able to get a studentship in DADA at the Le Fay Institut de la Magie in Paris.

His dad, who was a world-renown expert on Non-Human Spiritous Apparitions, and his mum, who worked in an insurance office, were overjoyed that their son could fulfill his dreams despite his infection with Lycanthropy. It had been especially hard on his dad that he had provoked Fenrir Greyback with his investigations into Dark Creatures and his insult of his existence as a werewolf – "soulless, evil, deserving nothing but death" – to bite his four-year-old boy and infect him with Lycanthropy. He never forgave himself for his actions and hoped to find a cure for his son's disease. Thus, he was ecstatic to hear that his son got supplied with the Wolfsbane Potion by Severus Prince and worked to develop a cure with him. Naturally, his overprotective, loving parents had also been a bit sad to see him leave Britain for Paris, but the fact that he was kept safe in a hidden dugout at the Le Fay Institut under the impact of the Wolfsbane Potion during full moon and could live a happier, non-discriminatory life in France warmed their hearts.

And Remus new life in Paris was like a dream come true. He could study in DADA at a world-renown university, venture into the cultural life of Paris and earn some money as a clerk at a Magical Bookstore in the Place Cachée. Remus loved to venture the French museums, theaters and art galleries with his new friends as well as to enjoy some relaxed evenings in a nice French restaurant or laughter-filled hours in a Parisien café. Naturally, he missed his Hogwarts mates and exchanged weekly letters with them. But he had never felt so carefree, happy and accepted. He thanked his lucky stars that he had met the love of his life, Amélie Delacroix, at the Le Fey Institut de la Magie. He had fallen in love at first sight with the stunning, green-eyed brunette who enchanted every male with her cute dimples, smooth caramel-brown skin, and womanly figure.

Remus had met her on his first day at the university when he searched his lecture room in a hurry. He hadn't looked where he was going and collided with the beautiful brunette who captivated him with her friendly smile, honest jade eyes, and wildly-curled mane. The werewolf had felt his heart skip a beat, energy buzzing through his veins and his cheeks blushing. He had outstretched his hand to help her up and mumbled an apology with a cheeky smile. Amélie had taken his outstretched hand, pulled herself up from the floor and giggled sweetly at his awkward apology. She had stated that she had never been run over by such a handsome, polite young man before and that she had read in the stars that she would meet her one true love today. Thus, they would have to share their lives from now on.

Remus had stared open-mouthed at her, turned beet-red and felt the oxygen escape from his brain. Only after she had burst out into infectious laughter, his brain decoded that she had been joking and he joined in on her laughter. He had introduced himself as Remus Lupin, a Britain freshman in DADA at the Le Fey Institut, who was searching for his lecture room and was pleased to meet her with some friendly smiles. She had returned his smiles, introduced herself as Amélie Delacroix, a freshman in Astronomy at the Le Fey Institut from Orléans, and greeted him with two pecks on his cheeks. Amélie had uttered in a joyous tone that today was his lucky day, for she was an expert on the room plan of the Le Fey Institut thanks to her preparatory class in Astronomy during the summer and her neurotic, perfectionist best friend, Marielle Delacour, a freshman in DADA from Paris, who had forced her to memorize the function of every room in the building. Thus, she had guided him to his DADA lecture room and they chatted pleasantly about their excitement, hopes, and fears for their freshman year. Remus had felt as if he had known Amélie for years, admired her beauty and basked in her humorous, intelligent nature. Before she could leave him for her Astronomy lecture room, he had blurted out if she would meet him on a café date in a cute café some blocks away from the University at 4 PM. Amélie had gifted him with a beaming smile and husked that it would be her pleasure to get to know him better on their café date. They could meet in the auditorium at 3:50 PM. Remus had simply agreed with a nod, happily smiled at her and waved her goodbye.

Remus chuckled happily in remembrance of his first date with Amélie. They had both ordered a café latte and a chocolate crépe, for they both admitted to being chocoholics with cheeky grins, and placed themselves at a cozy two-seat table. Like a true gentleman, he had pulled out her chair for Amélie and complimented her for her fashionable dark red floral dress and jeans jacket. Amélie had only joked that she had inherited her colorful fashion taste from her mum, Lucille, and that he didn't look so shabby himself in his blue jeans, green t-shirt, and jeans jacket. It would seem that they also shared their love for Muggle denim. Remus had laughed at that and confessed that he preferred to wear Muggle clothes to Wizarding robes because they were more comfortable and his Muggle mum, Hope, vowed that they could transform the snobbiest wizard into a relaxed-looking man. Amélie's jade eyes had twinkled with humor and she uttered that she could understand his mum's restraints for Wizarding fashion, for her mum, Lucille, was a Muggle fashion designer who urged her dad, Martin, to abandon his Wizarding dress robes for Muggle suits. Her dad worked as the head of the Muggle Relations Department at the French Ministry of Magic and had fallen in love with her mum on the dancefloor at a night club in Orléans.

Her mum loved the Magical world and encouraged her elder brother, Simon, who was a professional Quidditch player, and her to train their magical powers and explore the miracles of the Magical world. Whenever she had accompanied them to the Place Cachée in Paris to shop for their Beauxbatons supplies or familiars, she had jumped happily around like a kid in a candy store and infected them with her excitement. Her brother Simon had only rolled his eyes at his mother but entertained her with some Firework Charms nonetheless. Remus had been delighted to hear that Amélie was a Half-blood like him, for she knew the perks and quirks of both worlds. It was refreshing to meet someone who was familiar with electricity, cars, and TVs, for Sirius and James had always questioned with skepticism how so many humans could fit in a TV screen and how his mum could bake cookies without fire. He opened up to Amélie about his dad's work as an expert on Non-Human Spiritous Apparitions for the British Ministry of Magic and his mum's work as a clerk in an insurance office.

They talked about the shenanigans of their friends and their current study projects. Remus admitted that he hoped to live a non-discriminatory life in France, for he had been outcasted as a child and teenager for being different in Britain, complete his studies in DADA with top marks and currently researched how the negative effects of a confrontation with a Dementor could be minimized. Amélie confessed that she could sympathize with his feelings of being discriminated for something that you couldn't change, for she had been attacked at Beauxbatons by a group of racist, white-supremacist older students for her bi-racial heritage and skin color. They had insulted her as a "stupid caramel witch" and hexed her with Skin-Lightening Hexes. She had only escaped their racist bullying due to a course in self-defense and strong body language, her best friends support and an Anti-Racist-And-Anti-Bullying-Campaign at Beauxbatons. Whenever she had been targeted by the racists, other students stood up to them, called them out for their bigoted, inhumane ideology and reported their behavior to the teachers. With time, the attacks of the white-supremacists had stopped, for they had noticed that they only demasked themselves as intolerant and cruel individuals and lost all of their friends. Some of them even re-evaluated their past actions, apologized to her and renounced their racist ideology. Thus, she hoped that Remus and she would have a fresh, non-discriminatory start at their French university.

She revealed that she was currently researching how the magical energies developed themselves and shaped the universe. She hoped that she would be able to find some traces in the constellations and evolve a new theory on how the magic in the stars affected the lives of every magical being. They discussed for hours the challenges of their projects, the unfortunate effects of prejudices and discrimination in the Wizarding world and their hopes for a reunited, peaceful Wizarding world. At the end of their dinner date, Remus had walked Amélie on a romantic stroll alongside the Seine to her flat and thanked her for the lovely day. He blurted out with a blush on his face that he had never felt so at home with another woman and that she was the most beautiful girl on the inside and outside he had ever seen. Before he had been able to ask her for another date, she had looked him deeply in the eyes and kissed him passionately on the lips. She had husked into his ear, that she also felt at home in his presence, was deeply attracted to him and liked him for his boyish charm, studious nature, and opinionated character. Amélie uttered with a beaming smile that she would love to go on many dates with him.

Remus had been flabbergasted by her kiss and words, smiled sheepishly at her and mumbled that he must confess something to her before they could start dating. He wanted to explore the attraction and deep connection between them, but he needed to come clean about one aspect of his life first, for it wouldn't be honest and fair if he hid this aspect of himself from her. He had taken her delicate hands into his, locked her jade eyes with his amber ones, and stated in a calm voice, "I have been invected with Lycanthropy since I'm four years old. I don't want to hide any part of myself from you. And you should know that I turn into a wolf on every full moon. My best mates call it my "furry little problem", accept me despite my disease and even turned into Animagi for me. But I know from many painful experiences that some people can't handle the idea of being friends or lovers with a werewolf. Although I'm being supplied by a friendly potioneer with the newly invented Wolfsbane Potion, that reduces the pain during my transformation and lets me keep my human mindset after my transformation, I realize that I'm still considered to be dangerous by some people. I could totally understand if you don't want to date me thanks to this new information about me." Remus had broken off their eye contact, disentangled their hands and looked defeated to the ground.

He was utterly surprised when Amélie had touched his chin lightly, forced him to look her in the eyes again and caressed his face gently. She replied in a sweet, optimistic-sounding voice, "Remus, I'm not afraid of you. Your infection with Lycanthropy doesn't change the way I look at you. You are still the same kind young man who manages to make me smile like a loon, my heartbeat escalate inside of my chest and butterflies dance inside my stomach. You would make me the happiest girl in Paris if you agreed to date me. I only admire you more for your strength, honesty and positive outlook on life. Not everyone, who had been dealt with such a difficult fate as a boy, would be such a charming, kind and life-loving young man today. I'm overjoyed that a friendly potioneer supplies you with the Wolfbane Potion to make your transformation easier and safer for you. But in my eyes, you could never be a dark creature, Remus Lupin. You have a too gentle heart for that." Amélie whispered in his ear and kissed him sweetly on the lips. Remus was stunned by her acceptance, comfort, and love and returned her kisses with passion.

From this day on, Remus couldn't imagine a life without Amélie. They studied together in the Le Fey library, spent their lunch breaks chatting about their studies, chilling in each other's warm embrace and exchanging passionate kisses, and explored the cultural life in Paris on different dinner, theater, museum or musical dates. They were head over heels in love, snogged each other senseless at the end of every day and spent many days a week making love to each other. Remus longed to see Amélie's beautiful lips burst out in happy laughter, her unruly brunette curls thrown back in pleasure and her jade eyes blown with desire. Albeit that the only were a couple for a couple of months, Remus knew that Amélie was his own true love. He would introduce her to his friends and family come Yule, show her his Magical Britain and propose to her come spring. Merlin, Amélie intrigued him with her studies in the sources of all magical energies, attracted him with her stunning body and captivating jade eyes and made his heart overflow with love with her caring, sweet and tolerant nature. Hell, she accompanied him on his transformation trips every month, stayed close to him, stroked the fur of his transformed wolf, administrated a Pain Potion as well as Invigoration Potion to him after he had transformed into his human form again and dressed his naked body. He loved her unconditionally and thanked his lucky stars for having such a brilliant, beautiful and caring girlfriend. Sometimes, the heartbreak of being outcasted in one society could be healed by the love of your soulmate.


	11. Chapter 10 - Heartbreaks can blind you to future unhappiness!

Living Room, Prince Manor, December 1978

Eileen loved the Yule time of the year. She decorated the whole manor with Yule knick-knack, invited her loved ones to a festive dinner and gifted them with a mix of self-made and bought gifts. She regretted that she had never been able to celebrate Yule or Christmas with Severus when he had been a child or teen. Tobias had hated the Christmas spirit and forbidden his family to cook a festive meal, buy gifts or put up a Christmas tree. Eileen had been too defeated by her flight from the Wizarding world, her lost love and Tobias's abusive behavior that she hadn't tried to make Yule special for her beloved son. She realized that she had been a neglected, bad mum for her little prince for a long time, for she hadn't left Tobias and let him control their lives. If he had wanted to be the Grinch and forget all about Christmas, she would treat her favorite holiday as if it was just like any other day. She had felt depressed without her magic and friends/family. And although she had had a little sunshine to take care of, Eileen had lost her energy to fight back and spark for life.

If she was totally honest with herself, she had known from the start that her relationship with Tobias Snape would end in a disaster. But she had been pregnant and alone in a new world, heartbroken and helpless, and had grasped after Tobias's outstretched hand as if it had been her only chance to survive. She had rented a room at a hostel for three weeks in Muggle Soho thanks to her trust fund money that she had debited from her Gringotts vault and changed into pounds on the morning of her escape and found a low-paid job at a London bookstore to distract herself and blend in her new Muggle life. She had known that the months ahead would be tough for her and that she couldn't use her wand, for the Ministry of Magic would be able to trace her wand's signature. She had been a pregnant nineteen-year-old teen who missed her parents, longed to be in the arms of her one true love, Orion Black, again and buried all of her dreams. She would never be Mrs. Orion Black, a world-renown Potions Mistress and live a life full of happiness and love. The evil bitch Walburga had chased her away from the Wizarding world with her death threats on Orion and net of lies. She realized in retrospective that she should have had a backbone and stood up to Walburga's threats. She should have gone to the Aurors, reported Walburga for her death threats, illegal use of potions and cruel blackmail and replied to Orion's letters and Patronus messages with the truth.

But she had been petrified, desolate and hopeless, thus she had followed Walburga's rules like a submissive dog. Merlin, she had played the happy fiancée of Abraxas Malfoy on multiple society events, given an inclusive interview to the Daily Prophet in which she gushed about the love of her life, Abraxas, and her happiness, and ventured designer boutiques to shop for her perfect wedding dress instead of facing Orion and giving a fight to Walburga. She had returned Orion's letters unopened with a heavy heart, ignored his Patronus messages which were delivered by a sad-looking, apparitional Thunderbird and tightened her grip on Abraxas's arm whenever she had seen her lost love. She hadn't been able to look him in his sapphire eyes, for she had been afraid that his baby blues flashing with disgust, hurt, betrayal and hatred would cut her to the quick. She had nearly broken down into a sobbing, heartbroken mess when she had seen him for the first time after the horrible crash down of their romance. She had only managed to keep a cold face thanks to her inherited Occlumency shields and her fear of signing his death sentence if she had caused a public scene.

Orion had looked so downcast, heartbroken and sad that her heart had shattered into a million pieces for him. Hell, he had been lured in a trap to bed his insane female cousin, impregnate her and marry her. Besides that, he believed that his one true love had cheated on him with a Pure-blood aristocrat, played him with fake love declarations and was marrying his rival. He must have felt like a love-sick fool, cursed her name and tried to cut every happy memory out of his brain and every loved-up feeling out of his heart. Eileen had only stayed shortly at this events, chatted and danced with her fiancé for an hour before she stated a migraine as her reason for leaving the charity event early. Abraxas had looked worriedly at her ashen face, wished her to get well soon and kissed her sweetly on the head as a good-bye. She had refused his offer to take her home and call her a healer and voiced that she would apparate to her chambers at Prince Manor straight away, take some Migraine Relief Potion and lay down. She would only need sleep and silence to feel better. He should stay behind and enjoy his free evening.

It had been so hard to play Abraxas for he had been sweet to her, fulfilled every single one of her wishes and confessed that he could see himself falling deeply in love with her. Eileen had felt like a heartless bitch whenever she had mumbled in a dazed, happy-sounding voice that she couldn't wait to marry him, be Mrs. Malfoy and consummate their love. Although Abraxas Malfoy might have had a shady reputation regarding his practice of the Dark Arts, he had always treated her like a true gentleman and cared deeply for his son. She had wanted to be a loving step-mum to Lucius, deluded herself into thinking that she would come to love Abraxas with time and that she would be able to fulfill all of her teenage dreams, but the discovery of her pregnancy had changed everything. She hadn't been able to seduce Abraxas, make him believe that he was the father of her baby and fake a preterm birth. Eileen had realized that her child wouldn't inherit the Malfoy features - their white-blonde hair and silver-grey eyes. And she hadn't been able to conceal her little one's true paternity with some Blood-Adoption-Potion and Physical-Features-Altering Spell, for she had respected and liked Abraxas too much to lie to him for her entire life.

Thus, Eileen had debited her money in her Gringotts vault, changed it into pounds and left Prince Manor with her Hogwarts trunk full of her most treasured personal items. She had put an Undetectable Extension Charm on her beloved school trunk and packed it to the hilt. Her favorite clothes, most valuable Potions and Dark Arts tomes, traveling potions cabinet, most favorite books, Hogwarts school books, gifted jewelry from her parents, beloved Gobstones set, Orion's talisman and promise ring as well as a box full with happy pictures of them and love letters had joined her on her journey into the Muggle world. Due to her fascination with Muggle culture and her trips into the Muggle world, she had blended in well in her first few weeks. But she had realized that she couldn't stay in her hostel room forever and a hostel wasn't a place to raise a child. Thus, she had searched for an affordable, small flat in a family-friendly neighborhood in London but sadly couldn't find anything in the local newspapers. She had grown more desperate with every passing week, but she had decided to focus on her health and the health of her little one. Thus, she had visited a kind gynecologist for regular check-ups and used her innate knack for wandless magic to monitor her child's heartbeat daily with a spell.

It had calmed her nerves and soothed her broken heart to hear the regular, loud heartbeat of Orion's and her lovechild. In her darkest hours, she had held her hand over her little bump, spoke the Ultrasound Spell and listened with teary eyes to her child's rhythmic heartbeat. It had been the most beautiful sound in the world that warmed her heart and gave her new hope. She had realized that she was fighting for her unborn child and protecting him from the evil clutches of Walburga. Naturally, she had cried bitter tears because she couldn't share these precious moments in their little one's life with the love of her life. But she had vowed that she would try everything to give him a happy, safe and nice life. Thank Merlin, her little one had been healthy, developed nicely and grown safely in her belly. To distract herself from her fears and loneliness, Eileen had decided to visit a new London Art gallery. She had wanted to lift her spirits and enjoy seeing some beautiful art pieces, for they always reminded her of everything good and beautiful in the world.

In retrospective, Eileen shouldn't have gone to the art exhibition, because she met the art-enthusiastic Muggle again that had given Orion the creeps. He had warned her that she shouldn't chat friendly with him because he was a pervy Muggle with a filthy mind. Eileen had acted on his warning and ignored him whenever she visited an art exhibition. It had been creepy as hell to see him on every vernissage, gazing at her with his mysterious emerald eyes and trying to engage her in a discussion about art. Although she hadn't detected the dark vibes that Orion would get from him, she had felt as if he x-rayed her in his one-sided art lectures and wanted to woo her with his art expertise. She had wanted to ignore him, but in her heartbroken, lonely and hopeless state, she hadn't left when he approached her again. Eileen had listened to his interpretation of a colorful painting with a blue eye, flower, and deer with rapt attention because she had been able to focus her thoughts on something ordinary and beautiful. Besides that, his husky baritone had been incredibly soothing and the art-obsessed girl in herself couldn't stop but admire him for his feeling for art. Furthermore, Tobias Snape had smiled at her friendly, asked her if she was feeling alright and cheered her up with some jokes. He had invited her on a coffee and chocolate muffin and Eileen hadn't had the strength to say "no", because she had been hungry and her little one had a weird craving for chocolate.

Thus, she had walked with him into a café, took a seat on a cozy two-seat table and enjoyed her chocolate muffin and milk coffee. Tobias had talked about his work as a Muggle engineer at a big electro company in London, how much he missed his hometown Manchester and how proud his widowed mum was of her accomplished son. He had joked that he loved London for its vibrant art scene and multiple football clubs, but he missed the industrial flair of Manchester and the delicious Lamb stew of his mum. He wanted to move back to Manchester in a couple of months, for his electro company had an open job offer there and he needed to look after his lonely mum who was struggling with Multiple Sclerosis. Eileen had listened to his life story with rapt attention, but she hadn't been able to understand what he talked about for the most part. She had never found out what a Muggle engineer did and wasn't acquainted with the Muggle disease Multiple Sclerosis. And she only knew what football was, because Orion had loved to visit some matches of a club called "Arsenal London" on his trips to the Muggle world. She had even gone to two matches with him because she had loved to see his sparkling blue eyes, beaming smile and raised arms whenever Arsenal scored a goal. Eileen wasn't a sports enthusiast, but she loved to see her one true love's eyes light up like a kid in a candy store.

Tobias had noticed her sad expression and inquired if she was feeling alright. Eileen had wiped away some stray tears and answered that it was a tough time for her right now because she had had a bad break-up, challenging new job and taxing move in the last couple of weeks. She had only recently moved to London from her parent's house in Suffolk and had only been able to afford a hostel room from her savings and low-paid job. She was desperately searching for an affordable small flat, but nothing came up. Tobias had solaced her, encouraged her that she would find new love again, blend into her new working place and gain a foothold in London. He had said that he couldn't believe that some fool would break her heart because she seemed like a kind, intelligent and beautiful young woman. He had ranted about the stupidity of the male species and voiced that her ex-boyfriend hadn't deserved her. Eileen hadn't been able to suppress her heart-wrenching sobs there for she knew deep down in her bones that Orion was her one true love and that their breakup had been a result of the evil bitch Walburga's schemes. Besides that, it had hurt to listen to some Muggle man painting the love of her life and dad of her little one in dark colors. Orion hadn't deserved this. A tiny voice in Eileen's head had screamed at her to rip into this art-crazy Muggle and run for her life, but she had been too exhausted and sad to lash out at him. Tobias had only been nice and tried to boost her self-confidence by badmouthing her ex-boyfriend after all.

Thus, she had let him soothe her with gentle caresses on her back and sweet whispered nothingness into her ear. Tobias had vowed to always be there for her and offered her a room in his two-bedroom flat in central Muggle London for an affordable rent. In the back of her mind, Eileen had known that it wasn't such a good idea to move in with a complete male stranger, especially someone her one true love Orion had despised and hexed with a Stinging Hex. But she had longed to blend into the Muggle world, have a friend and find a better home than her hostel room. Hence, she had thanked him for his generosity and accepted his offer with a blush. They had walked to her hostel room to pack together her personal items and she had moved into Tobias's small, tidy two-bedroom flat on the same day. Over the following weeks, she had started to warm up to Tobias and trust him. Orion must have been blinded by jealousy, for Tobias had been a humorous, intelligent and sweet roommate. He would buy her a milk coffee and a chocolate muffin in a near bakery every morning before they had to go to work, lend her some of his Muggle literature books, watch romantic TV series with her and sometimes even surprise her with some self-cooked dinners. Besides that, he would keep up with their cleaning schedule and tidy up behind himself. Tobias would cheer her up with some funny jokes, hilarious stories of his youth and some trips to London Art galleries. He had comforted her when she had cried bitter tears over her romance gone bad, brewed her a herbal tea when she had been plagued by her morning sickness and complimented her on her new glow.

On a warm summer evening in August, he had confessed to her that he had fallen in love with her and desired to kiss her. Eileen had been overwhelmed by his confession because her heart still belonged to Orion. But she had to admit that she liked Tobias, could see herself loving him over time and wanted to give a relationship between them a try. Thus, she had returned his tender kisses and voiced that she would love to make a romance work between them. Before they could test out the waters between them, she had needed to make a confession that would probably change his mind about her. She had stated in a calm voice that she was four months pregnant and would welcome her little one into the world in early January. She knew that she couldn't ask of him to care for her and her child, but the father was out of the picture and she intended to raise her little one on her own. Hence, he would be inevitably confronted with her pregnancy and motherhood if she stayed his roommate. She acknowledged that it hadn't been fair of her to move in with him and raise his hopes of a romance between them while keeping mum about her pregnancy. Unwedded single mums were shunned in their society and she could understand if he would throw her out and break off their friendship. Tobias had regarded her with a stunned look, uttered that he was a little disappointed that she hadn't been honest with him from the start, but had vowed that her pregnancy wouldn't change a single one of his feelings.

He had fallen in love with her, longed to call her his and build a happy future together. He would love her child as his own because it was a piece of her. He had embraced her tightly, stroked her little bump slightly and mumbled with sparkling eyes that her little bean would undoubtedly be a beautiful, intelligent and sweet child thanks to her genes. Tobias had promised to protect them from any harm and proposed a marriage between them to allow their little bean an easier life. He hadn't wanted that their child was shunned as a bastard on the playground and since he hadn't been able to have children of his own due to a childhood disease, he had wanted to give all of his love to her child and raise him/her as his own. He had confessed that he liked children, has always wished to nurture a little one into a happy, intelligent and self-conscious human being and regarded her unplanned pregnancy as a gift to fulfill his shattered dreams. Besides that, they could move as a family to Manchester, live in a nice, upper-middle-class four-bedroom house thanks to his well-paid job as an engineer and Eileen could be a stay at home mum and educate their child. Eileen had been shocked by his practical marriage proposal, but she hadn't been able to deny the logic of his words. They could even save taxes as a married couple and she could blend in fully into her Muggle life if she was married to a Muggle and lived in suburban Manchester. The evil she-devil Walburga would never be able to find her and her child and they could start fresh in the Muggle world.

Although Eileen had only desired to marry Orion, she knew that this was an impossible dream, because he was already married and with his first child on the way. Besides that, she would risk his and their love child's life, if she returned into the Magical world. Thus, Eileen had accepted Tobias's unorthodox marriage proposal, thanked him for his love and generosity and promised to open up her heart for him. Deep down in her bones, Eileen had known that she could only love him as a close friend, because Orion was her one true love and that it had been wrong of her to accept his marriage proposal without informing him about the Magical world and her feelings for Orion. But she had calmed her bad conscience by citing that she no longer belonged into the Magical world and would only confuse Tobias with her talks about magic. She had known that most Muggles feared wizards and witches because they felt to be at their mercy due to their unbelievable powers. They weren't able to protect themselves against their spells, charms, and hexes and feared to be controlled by wizards and witches. Hence, she wouldn't alarm Tobias with her magical powers. He would come to love her and her child. And if her child was magical she would have to come clean with the existence of magic and the Magical world and hope that Tobias would be openminded about it.

A tiny scathing voice had screamed in Eileen's head that she was mad for leading Tobias own and lying to him about her magical powers. She knew that her child would have magical powers, for she was able to sense his magical core inside of her body. Thus, her lies would inevitably backfire at her at some points in the future and she could only hope that Tobias could forgive her. Tobias and Eileen had moved to Manchester within a month, married in a private ceremony where only Tobias's close family and friends were present – Eileen had uttered to her lovely mother-in-law, Mary Snape, that she was an orphan from Suffolk who had lost her parents in a fire recently – and purchased a nice, four-bedroom home with a huge garden in suburban Manchester. Tobias had refurbished a lovely nursery painted in a friendly, warm yellow with a starry sky bordure with his old oak crib, oak diaper changing table, oak closet, and oak shelves. They had ventured into lovely baby stores and bought tons of adorable baby clothes, baby shoes, baby toys, and stuffed animals. Tobias had even tinkered a sweet crib mobile with different constellations. Eileen had cried when she had seen it, stroked her seven months baby bump lovingly and kissed Tobias sweetly on the cheek. She had come to love him over the last months, although she still was in love with Orion. She hadn't been able to fathom that Tobias would choose constellations to decorate her baby's nursery, but she had loved it because it had created a connection between her child and the Blacks.

She had realized that she couldn't name her child after a constellation because it would be too weird for Muggles if her child was named Corvus, Perseus, Lyra or Cassiopeia. If she was called Mrs. Black now, happily married to the love of her life and expecting their first child, she would name it Corvus Orion Black for a boy or Cassiopeia Lyra Black for a girl. But Eileen had known that her child could never be connected to the Blacks, it would be too risky if her child wandered through Hogwarts sporting a constellation name and alert Walburga to her, thus she had decided to name her child Severus Tobias Snape if it was a boy or Livia Mary Snape if it was a girl to honor her loving husband. He would buy her multiple chocolate muffins a day, massage her swollen feet and accompany her to every doctor's appointment, holding her hand gently and gazing with wonder in his eyes on the ultrasound monitor.

Tobias had been the definition of a happy, caring and excited expectant dad and she had wanted to name their child after famous Muggle emperor from Roman history because Tobias was obsessed with their life stories. She had decided to honor him or her mother-in-law in the second name of their child because they had gifted her a chance at a happy Muggle life. She had given birth to her little prince, Severus Tobias Snape, after an exhausting ten-hours-childbirth but had forgotten her pains the minute she had gazed at his thick tuft of ebony curls, porcelain skin, and chocolate brown eyes. She had fallen in love with her baby boy at first sight, admired his inherited facial features of Orion and the strong grip of his tiny fingers. She had known that his eyes would most likely darken into her obsidian ones and that his facial features would mature into a carbon copy of Orion's.

Albeit it had broken her heart, she had changed his facial features slightly with her inherited wandless magic to resemble her husband more. She had cast a slight bump on his nose, mellowed his angular facial features and thinned his plumb lips with some tears in her eyes. Eileen had felt awful for erasing Orion's features out of their son's face, but she couldn't risk having an onyx-eyed, ebony-haired carbon copy of Orion Black run through Hogwarts in eleven years. Due to her strong wandless Disguising Charm, Severus would grow into his enchanted physical features. It could only be lifted by her or her death. Tobias had been a loving hands-on-dad to Severus until he had shown his first outbursts of accidental magic as a four months old baby. From then onwards, her happy, simple Muggle life had turned into hell. And Eileen regretted till today that she hadn't had the courage to leave Tobias sooner and protect her son better.

Eileen was interrupted from her trip down memory lane by an activated Floo call. In the glowing briquettes of her fireplace appeared the happy smiling face of Regulus Black. She was stunned how much he resembled Orion whenever she saw him and regretted that she couldn't inform him and Severus of their close relation. These two were thick as thieves, loved each other deeply and gave her a heart attack with their adventurous trips into the Muggle world, boyish pranks and fight against Lord Voldemort. She wished that she could reveal to them that they were brothers, but she feared the consequences of her actions. She knew that Severus would be livid and feel betrayed. He would question if his whole life had been a lie and rip into her for her selfish decision to conceal his true identity. Besides that, she would most likely have to face Orion again and she couldn't face him as a broken shell of her former self and throw this bombshell in front of his feet. She wasn't ready to see her love again. Thus, she kept her secret and calmed her bad conscience by stating that Regulus and Severus were already treating each other like brothers.

She walked in front of her fireplace, hunkered down and asked her son's best mate in a pleasantly surprised tone, "Regulus, I'm happy to see you again. To what do I owe your surprise Floo call? I hope you have survived Severus's wedding party without a major hangover." Severus's best man smirked slyly at her and replied, "I have cured my splitting headache with your marvelous Hangover Potion. Say what you want about Prince Potions, but you Princes know how to cure the side-effects of a hard party. But I guess getting smashed at your best friend's wedding is in the job definition of a good best man. I trust that you are already in high spirits for your next family party, your famous Yule dinner, and have dried your flows of happy tears already, Eileen. I must disturb you on this beautiful winter day to plot some plan for Severus's birthday party with you. Olivia, Camille and I want to surprise him with a huge party in a fancy club in New York. Can I come through the Floo network to discuss the details with you?", the Black heir asked with a smug grin.

Eileen noded ones and shook her ebony locks with a happy laugh on her lips. She liked that her son had matured into such a strong, accomplished and kind young man and loved that he had loved ones around him that showed their love for him openly with a surprise party. Thus, she opened up her Floo connection to Grimmauld Place and answered in a joyful voice, "I have opened the Floo connection for you, Regulus. You can step through the flames with some Floo powder and Prince Manor in mind. I can't wait to hear everything about your birthday plans for Severus. I'm sure he is gonna love it and we could all need another happy party in these dark times." Eileen ended her statement on a somber note. She really wished that Voldemort and his evil Death Eaters had already been defeated. Lost in her dark thoughts, she hadn't noticed how someone stepped through her fireplace. A bone-crushing hug, the familiar scent of bergamot, geranium, and cedarwood and a husked "Eileen" brought her back into reality. She couldn't believe her senses as she gazed in the beautiful sapphire irises of her one true love. Shocked, she could only utter a perplex, "Orion?".


	12. Chapter 11 – Heartbreaks can be mended by your one true love, I!

Living Room, Prince Manor, December 1978

Orion breathed in his one true love's unique vanilla, belladonna, and roses scent. How much he had missed to embrace her and simply be near her. Whenever he had smelled the mix of roses and belladonna, he had turned around and hoped to be faced with the lovely heart-shaped face of his Eileen. But it had always been other women that wore a similar fragrance as Eileen. He gazed into her warm onyx eyes, caressed her rosé cheeks gently and uttered in a dazed voice, "I can't believe that I finally have you in my arms again. Your new hair-cut looks stunning on you. Your bob makes your onyx eyes pop and emphasizes your delicate facial features. I'm sorry to descend on you like this, but I had to see you again. I can't live another day without you, my love." He stated in an emotional voice and kissed her softly on her head.

He noticed that she tightened her embrace around him, shivered at his kiss and sobbed silently. Her face was quickly streaked with tears and she mumbled into his chest in a broken voice, "Oh, Orion. I can't fathom how you are here now. I missed you like crazy and wish that we could have our chance at our happily ever after. But I'm not the same optimistic, innocent and good-hearted girl you have fallen in love with anymore. I'm a broken, sarcastic and evil woman now. My whole life is riddled by secrets, misery, and unhappiness. I broke your heart. I don't deserve your love. You should hate me for all the things that I have done to you." Orion looked bewildered at her words, stroked her back soothingly and gazed at his love in alarm. She looked stunning in her forest green pantsuit that hugged her curves and underlined the beauty of her amber jewelry – his amber promise ring and talisman. But her face was distorted into an anguished, guilt-ridden mask.

"Why does Eileen torture herself for her past actions? She must know that Walburga has been the puppet master in our romance gone bad. My sweet, kind and beautiful Eileen calls herself evil and broken? She could never be evil or broken to me. I could never hate her. I must dispell her dark thoughts right now," a panicked voice screamed inside of Orion's head. He embraced her face, locked his fiery flashing sapphire eyes with her tormented onyx ones and stated in his deep baritone, "Stop your self-flagellation right now, Eileen. I know that we two have changed over the past nineteen years and we will have to get to know each other again. But nothing could erase my love for you out of my heart. I don't believe for a second that you are an evil woman. You don't have any evil bone in your body. So, please, stop to torture yourself with regrets, guilty feelings and shame. Our love can survive everything. And I know that my insane, Dark Arts obsessed wife Walburga separated us with her schemes and lies. Don't let that dark witch succeed by shutting me out of your life, Eileen." Orion gifted Eileen with an honest, hopeful smile, but when she stepped out of his embrace, broke their eye-contact and hugged herself like a lonely, desolate child, his heart shattered into million pieces.

She rocked herself in a desperate attempt to get some comfort, leveled her gaze onto the ground and cried in a heart-wrenching voice, "You don't understand, Orion. Walburga might have been the force behind our break-up and my escape into the Muggle world, but I have imprisoned myself in an abusive marriage and haven't protected my little prince good enough against the cruel words, painful kicks and heavy beatings of the bastard Tobias. Hell, you have warned me that he is a twisted creep but I nevertheless tried to escape my issues in his arms. You should look with disgust and hate at me. I have let myself be reduced into a magic-renouncing, submissive battered wife who couldn't protect and care probably for her son. My actions have nearly broken Severus. He had channeled his hatred for Tobias into a hatred for the world and Muggles and gotten obsessed with the Dark Arts. If it hadn't been for the love, care and friendship of Olivia and Regulus, I would have lost my little prince to a world full of darkness. Merlin, he would most likely have jumped into alcohol or drug addiction, thrown away his education and been vulnerable to the promises of Voldemort, if his newly-wedded wife and best mate hadn't rescued him.

"I have been a bad mother. My fears, depression, heartbreak, and loneliness turned me into a monster who flinched away from human contact, dressed her son in tattered clothes and lived in her own fantasy world. I tried to mend Severus bruised skin, broken bones and hurt soul with wandless Healing Spells, herbal concoctions, wondrous tales of the Magical world, soothing lullabies and love declarations. But I failed him. I wasn't strong enough to protect him against Tobias and make him feel safe and loved at home. I tried but I was powerless against Tobias alcohol-induced rages, rants and beatings. Thus, I'm a weak, broken and fucked-up bad mother who doesn't deserve your love." Eileen broke down on the floor in front of her fireplace and rocked herself in an embryonic position. It broke Orion's heart to see his love reduced to a self-loathing, desperate mess. He was shocked to hear that she had suffered as a battered wife at the hands of this Muggle creep Tobias Snape. He wanted to apparate to his shack, beat his drunken arse and rip him in two for his crimes. But he needed to comfort Eileen, dispell her bad memories and be there for her now.

Hence, he seated himself on the floor, crawled to Eileen and cradled her sobs-wrecked body lovingly in his arms. He whispered into her ear, "Eileen, please, stop your self-flagellation. It shatters my heart to see you so broken and desolate. I'm sure that your son would embrace you tightly right know, console you and assure you that you have been the best mum you could be to him. He loves you and knows that you love him. Merlin, it wasn't your fault that this Muggle creep abused his power as your husband and shamelessly tormented your son and you emotionally and physically. You weren't a match to his physis and alien to the Muggle world. I bet that he broke your wand, controlled you with some twisted tales of love, loyalty, and gratitude and isolated you from your friends and family. Hell, I would give everything to break every bone in his body right now as a punishment for his despicable actions. A male who beats his wife and son, bullies them emotionally and forces them to live a life in fear, poverty, pain, and misery, is a disgrace to all men. He is the soulless, evil monster, not you, Eileen. Not even one of these Muggle superheroes would have been able to protect his child against every hurt in your position.

"I can't even imagine how hellish, dark and hopeless your life must have been. But I trust that your circumstances, fears and mind state forced you to stay in this abusive environment for so long. We are all humans and make mistakes. I'm plagued by my own nightmares every night in which my insane wife tests out dark curses on my sons, forces them to torture our house-elves or calls them two dumb, weak blood-traitors. I curse myself with every fiber of my heart that I have neglected my sons, looked away on the signs of their emotional and physical distress and surrendered them to the craziness of Walburga for so long. I have only started to act when she wanted to brand Regulus with the Dark Mark. Thus, I won't judge you for your parental mistakes. I'm no poster dad myself. But I know that we can help each other heal if we only open up our hearts for our love. I'm aware that our path to our happily ever after will be rocky and painful, but we can get there if we only believe in it. Everyone deserves to have a second chance and be loved, Eileen." Orion ended his pep talk with a gentle squeeze on her shoulder and loving caress through her ebony bob.

Eileen calmed down in his arms, basked in his warmth, comfort, and love and breathed in his familiar scent. Her sobs started to ebb down and she clung desperately to Orion's muscular frame. She was embarrassed that she had let herself be ruled by her emotions like a fragile, hurt girl during her reunion with Orion. To see the love in his sapphire eyes, a hopeful smile plastered on his handsome face and his dark-brown curls bounce enthusiastically on his head had been too much for her. She was eaten alive by her guilt, regrets and dark secrets. How could Orion love a broken, regretful bad mother like her? She was a shell of her former self, whereas Orion seemed to have aged with dignity. Only a few wrinkles graced his forehead, eyes, and cheeks, but his handsome smile was still the same. Sure, his baby blues were marked by his own regrets, heartbreak, and sorrow, but they sparkled at her with hope, love, and compassion as if she was his lifeline. Eileen feared that they would flash with hurt, betrayal, and anger at her in a few minutes. But she was fed up with her net of lies and realized that only complete honesty could pave the way to their second chance. Orion seemed to be haunted by his own regrets, misery, and unhappiness. Perhaps, they were kindred spirits after all who understood each other, loved each other unconditionally and could forgive each other for their mistakes. She needed to rip off the bandaid fast before she lost her courage.

Thus, she pulled back from his embrace, gazed him gratefully in the eyes and urged him with an arm gesture to stand up. He helped her up from the floor, supported her svelte frame with a gentle hand on her lower back and walked with her to her grey couch. They seated themselves beside each other on the upholstery, intertwined their fingers and faced each other with a smile. Eileen gathered all her courage, drew strength from his positive aura and stated in a calm, clear voice, "I'm sorry if I have frightened you with my breakdown, Orion. It wasn't my attention to cause you distress. I'm happy to see you again, feel your strong arms around me and hear your deep voice. Thank you for helping me through my breakdown with your love, patience, and compassion. I wish that I hadn't reacted like this to our reunion, but my emotions were too much for me. My shame, guilt and self-loathing gets the best of me in my darkest hours. And I couldn't handle seeing you again after nearly twenty years. My heartbreak, regrets, and anxiety overwhelmed me and I could only focus on the thoughts that you must be disappointed to see the broken shell of your first love and find out about her crimes.

"But you are right, Orion. We both aren't the loved-up teenagers we once were any more, but our love and deep connection still remain despite our past heartbreak, despair, and unhappiness. We have both been dealt with a dire fate and if I could turn back time I would change my actions on this fateful April night in 1959 in a heartbeat. I would be strong and fight for our love. Sadly, I can't turn back time and I realize that using a time-turner would be the easy way out. We are both marked by the past nineteen years of our life and are who we are today because of them. I'm sorry to hear that you are also hunted by the regret to not have been able to protect your children sufficiently. I feel for you and know how you must be beating yourself up over it. To see your child unhappy, desperate and in pain because of your inactions is the greatest pain of any parent. Perhaps, an open heart-to-heart talk will help ourselves to heal somewhat. Thus, I'm going to be brave for once and open up about my past regrets." She took a deep breath, squeezed Orion's warm hand and started her tale with a shaky voice.

"You must have felt hurt and betrayed to read my engagement announcement to Abraxas Malfoy in the Daily Prophet. I wish that I had been more cunning, stronger and braver in the spring of 1959. You have to believe me that I have never been in love with Abraxas Malfoy. Sure, he was charming and had taken an interest in me, but I had only eyes for you. When he proposed marriage to me in mid-April, I didn't flat out reject him because I couldn't blurt out the secret of our forbidden romance. In the eyes of the Wizarding upper-class, I was an unattached, love-starved young woman who was free to be romanced by charming bachelors and longed to settle down with her own family, whereas you were the soon-to-be-married, handsome Black heir who loved to see his best female friend happy and scrutinized her suitors with eagle eyes. I couldn't risk revealing our secret romance by denying Abraxas straight-on. He would have never believed me that I rejected him on the account of not seeing myself fall in love with him in the future and forced me to be honest with him. Perhaps, he would have gotten suspicious of our close friendship, put two and two together and accused me of having a scandalous love affair with you. Our plans of coming out as a couple in May, freeing you of your forced marriage and living a happy life in our cottage would have been destroyed. Thus, I have asked Abraxas for one week to rethink his marriage proposal to buy us some time.

"But somehow, Walburga must have heard of his marriage proposal through the rumor mill, for she blackmailed me into marrying him. She sent me a lovely letter with a moving picture of you and her naked in bed, taunted me with her pregnancy due to some Fertility Potion and threatened to kill you with some deathly poison if I didn't announce my marriage proposal with Abraxas in the next Daily Prophet. In retrospective, I know that I shouldn't have fallen prey to her threats, contacted you and reported her blackmail and illegal use of potions to the Aurors. I realize that I hurt you and Abraxas with my fake engagement. Although he has a dark reputation, he has always been sweet to me, treated me like a real gentleman and considered my feelings. I suspect that he knew deep down in his bones that my heart belonged to another, but he hoped that I would come to love him over time. It was never my intention to break your heart or abandon you to your dark fate with Walburga. I didn't believe for a minute that you cheated on me with her and suspected that she lured you into her bed with a Love Potion and Aphrodisiacs. But her threat on your life, which she underlined with a sample of your fragrance mixed with a highly deadly poison, and the fact that she was carrying your child, crushed down my hopes for our future. I was paralyzed with fears and despair and could only play her obedient lap dog. I'm sorry for giving up on our dream life without a fight, my love." Tears glistered in Eileen's eyes and she caressed Orion's face gently.

Orion put his hand on her hand and uttered in an astonished, enraged voice, "I also should have fought more for our love, Eileen. I can't believe that the insane harpy blackmailed you into getting engaged to Abraxas Malfoy. If she weren't already wasting away in a padded cell, I would throw Walburga into Azkaban for her crimes. She has destroyed everything between us and fucked up our lives. Hell, she is such a sly, manipulative and evil bitch. I wish my instincts had been as spot on as your senses, for I must admit that I have fallen prey to her Love Potion and Aphrodisiacs. She tricked me into bedding her and taunted me with the news that she hadn't only basically raped me but secured that she conceived my child during our drug-induced shag. Melin, it felt like my nightmare come true to wake up naked in her bed. She blackmailed me into marrying her to save my face, avoid a scandal and step up to my duties as her baby daddy. My first instinct had been to call the Aurors on her, confess her evil schemes to you and co-parent my child with her. But she pointed out to me that only a weak wizard wouldn't be able to detect a Love Potion, that I would ruin the reputation of the Blacks by calling the Aurors and shame my family by throwing my pregnant fiancée into Azkaban.

"When I confessed to her that I didn't care about these things and wanted to elope with you, she upped her game and confronted me with loved-up pictures of Abraxas and you and some smutty love letters between this creepy Muggle, Tobias Snape, and you. I called her a liar and knew deep down in my heart that you would never cheat on me like this. You loved me unconditionally, showed me your true self and planned a future with me. My heart urged me to detect the spells on the staged photos and letters, but I couldn't find any. Seeing you wrapped up in the embrace of Abraxas, his hand resting on your lower back and your lips kissing his with desire, shattered my heart into million pieces, let my jealousy blind me to the truth and my mind run into overdrive. But reading these filthy, smutty love letters to Tobias Snape in your script where you mocked my sports enthusiasm, praised his bedroom skills and called me a naïve fool, cut me to the quick. I must confess that my heart turned to stone on this day and that I desperately wanted to have an explanation from you. A tiny voice inside my panicked mind screamed at me that Walburga had used some dark spells that I didn't know to forge the letters and pictures because you would never betray me like this. But I squashed it and questioned our whole love story. The coffin nail that verified your cheating to me was your marriage announcement to Abraxas Malfoy in the morning issue of the Daily Prophet. I broke down into tears and agreed to marry Walburga. If the love of my life had ripped out my heart and I survived it, I could survive a loveless, miserable marriage with my crazy second cousin.

"I deluded myself into thinking that I had nothing left to fight for. Hell, my angry owls and pathetic Patronus messages – I haven't been able to produce my strong, corporal Thunderbird Patronus since our breakup – were desperate attempts to receive an explanation for your cheating and lies. I'm glad that you returned them unopened or that the bounced off of your wards, for I'm deeply ashamed of my angry, hurt and foul ramblings. I'm sorry for ever doubting your love, Eileen. I have been a heartbroken fool. But I would have never expected that Walburga could stoop so low as to frighten you with death threats and muddle my brain with her forged evidence. I hope that you can forgive me for not believing in the pureness and goodness of your heart, my love." Orion uttered in an ashamed voice and evaded her gaze.

Eileen was speechless. "Walburga has forged some smutty love letters between Tobias and me as well as staged some salacious magical photos featuring Abraxas Malfoy and me? Damn, I would have never thought that she could stoop so low only to cause Orion pain. Merlin, Orion really thought that I had ripped out his heart, hacked it into shreds and chewed on it with delight and glee. I'm hurt that he didn't trust me more, but if I'm totally honest with myself, I don't know how I would have reacted if our roles were reversed. And you aren't an angel either, Eileen. You still haven't told Orion about his son," a scathing voice scolded her in her thoughts. Eileen moved closer to Orion, put her left hand under his chin and kissed him sweetly on the lips. She poured all the love, compassion and forgiveness she could muster up into her kiss and was delighted when her one true love returned her kiss.

Before she lost herself in his kisses and lost the courage to reveal her dark secret completely, she pulled back from his lips, gnawed on her bottom lip and expressed with warm obsidian eyes, "I needed to show you my forgiveness with my kiss, my love. I can't fathom how painful it must have been to question our love. Sure, it hurts me to know that you thought me capable of cheating on you. But I can't honestly say if I would have reacted any better to smutty love letters of you to some girl. I'm sorry that I didn't give you the chance to confront me after my engagement to Abraxas. It would have mended some cracks in your heart to know that our love story was real and Walburga a lying bitch. Hell, she stooped that low to fake my script for some smutty love letters and to sabotage some magical pictures? I can't figure out how she knew Tobias. Damn, she must have been following us on our trips to the Muggle world, witnessed your confrontation with him and cast a spell on him. Perhaps, she is even partly responsible for his abusive, magic-hating behavior. I'm so sorry that I have vanished into the Muggle world without a trace. You have to believe me that I have only eloped with Tobias in late September of 1959. I hadn't had some sordid love affair with him before that." She pierced his sapphire eyes with her onyx ones and confessed in a soft tone, "I have been a fool. I should have informed you about my escape into the Muggle world and Walburga's threats on your life. Sure, you were already married to her and she was carrying your child, but you would have had an explanation for my actions."

Eileen stopped here because Orion was x-raying her with a pained expression. "Orion, I'm so sorry for the pain, hurt and worry I caused you with my actions, but I .." She was interrupted by Orion's half-raised hand and swift reply, "Eileen, I'm not angry with you. I'm livid at the wicked dark witch Walburga. I fear that she destroyed your life by casting a spell on this creepy Muggle, although he was a twisted perv on his own without her interference. Damn, she played us good. She forced me into our marriage to conceal the shame of her lovechild and cursed a Muggle to stalk you and lure you into a marriage. I could throttle her." Orion screamed with an enraged face and twisted his hands in a throttling motion. "She forced a mailman's child on you? Sirius isn't your biological son?" Eileen asked shocked.

Orion shook his head and lowered his eyes in defeat. He mumbled in a sad-sounding voice, "No, Sirius isn't my biological son, although I love him as my own. He is the love child of the she-devil and Sebastian Lestrange. She tricked us all with her Fertility Potion. She had been two months pregnant already when she lured me into her bed." Eileen embraced her lost love tightly, squeezed his biceps in a sign of comfort and uttered in a dazed voice, "I'm sorry to hear this, Orion. And I fear that I'm not so much better than Walburga after all." Orion looked confused at her as if she had gone barmy and wanted to dispell her self-loathing with a scathing remark, but she went on before he could interrupt her. "I lied to everyone. The Ministry of Magic, the Muggle authorities, the Hogwarts staff, Severus. I'm so sorry for my actions and wished that I had sent you a Patronus right away after I did the test. But my fears paralyzed me and I didn't want to destroy your little family. Orion, Severus is your biological son. I took a batch of a faulty Contraception Potion and we conceived him in early April of 1959 before our romance went to hell. Can you forgive me for hiding your son, your own flesh and blood, from you for nineteen years, whisking him away into the Muggle world, changing his features with a Glamour and not protecting him good enough of the beatings, bullying, and neglect of his Muggle step-father? Merlin, I'm a monster." Eileen broke down into desperate sobs beside a petrified looking Orion.


	13. Chapter 12 – Heartbreaks can be mended by your one true love, II!

Living Room, Prince Manor, December 1978

Orion felt as if he had been hit by a Stunning Hex. "Severus is my son? Why didn't Eileen contact me? Why doesn't he resemble me one bit? Merlin, I have spent dinners with my own son without knowing it. Why didn't I sense anything? There must be something in my heart or magical code that should have altered me of my close relation to the socially awkward, angry and neglected teen. I should have felt that he was more to me than the son of my lost true love and Regulus' best friend. Hell, my son grew up in tattered clothes, without love and happiness, suffering on the hands of a Muggle brute who tormented his wife and child with his brutal fists, sharp tongue, and magic-hating aura. A Black heir reduced to being bullied at Hogwarts due to his social awkwardness and poverty and feeling like a dark freak in the Muggle world? I feel for his dark fate, I'm overjoyed that Eileen managed to break free of her fears and her abuse in the end and that Severus came out on top of his tormentors and haters. Damn, my son is now married to the beautiful Fawley heiress, excelling in his studies in Potions, Spellcasting and Defense Against the Dark Arts and giving the Order an advantage in the war against Voldemort with his spells, training, and potions. I can't wait to meet him," Orion thought with a sly smile.

Orion was pulled out of his mind by Eileen's miserable sobs. Merlin, she hugged herself in an embryonic position beside him and called herself a monster. Sure, she had made terrible mistakes in the past and it cost him nearly twenty years of his son's life, but she wasn't a heartless, cunning wrench. She had let herself be ruled by her fears and Walburga's threats and although a tiny part in his heart was livid at her for sabotaging their happily ever after with her silence and escape in the Muggle world, he wanted to kiss her better. "Shit, what an utter idiot am I that I smile proudly at my son's achievements while ignoring his mum's despair? I need to console her now before she sinks deeper into her self-loathing and self-pity," the Black patriarch scolded himself harshly. He approached Eileen silently, took her in his arms and caressed her back gently.

He whispered into her ear, "Eileen, you aren't a monster. Yes, you lied to Severus and me about our relation and couldn't protect him against this abusive bastard, but you never lied to us out of spite or vengeance. You believed that you could only protect him and me if you kept his paternity secret and altered his looks. I will be honest with you. My heart breaks for all the shit you two had to endure and I'm angry that you didn't have the courage and trust in me to inform me earlier of his existence, but I could never hate you and hold a grudge against you for long. I love you and you are the mother of my son, thus, you have given me the most beautiful gift in the world – to be a dad to a brave, intelligent and tough young man. Hell, I wish that I could have been a dad to Severus during his unhappy childhood and difficult teenage years. I wish that I could have been there to hold back your hair above the toilet bowl whenever our little bean urged you to vomit, to massage your swollen ankles on our sofa whenever our little bean bugged you with his weight and to purchase your favorite foods whenever our little bean forced you to give in to some weird cravings. I desire that I could have been present at your doctor's appointments to hear his steady heartbeat and see him grow in your belly or at his birth to hold your hand and encourage you with sweet words during your exhausting, crucial childbirth.

"I would have given everything to hold him in my arms for the first time, gazing in his onyx eyes and admiring his strong grip on my finger. I missed so much. His first steps, first smile, first words, first outbursts of accidental magic and sparkling onyx eyes when he received his Hogwarts letter. I would have loved to read bedtime stories to him, experience magical adventures with him and celebrate him for his genius in Potions and DADA. Salazar, he could probably outduel me at any minute. But I can't blame you for your decision to conceal his true paternity. You were afraid that Walburga would harm him and I wouldn't put it behind the she-devil to kill an innocent toddler only to shred my heart and destroy our family. The evil bitch certainly hates me enough to kill my lovechild. You are not responsible for every tragedy in our lives, Eileen. Naturally, you should have left this Muggle arsehole a long time ago, reconnected with your parents and informed me about my son's existence, but our fears, insecurities and mental trauma can sometimes freeze us.

"I love you and can't wait to find out everything about our son. Sure, I know him through Regulus, but I can't wait to get to know the real Severus. Has he inherited your quirks to drink your coffee with lots of milk or to scribble his ideas in the margin of his books? Has he inherited your love for Muggle literature or your bad habit to sort your closet by color? Has he inherited my quirks to learn by creating silly rhymes inside of his head or to speak with a set of runes whenever he sees it? Has he inherited my love for football or my bad habit to rush into danger without looking out for himself? How does he look without his glamours in place? Does he have my angular facial features, curly hair or sly smile? What does he love to do and what does he hate to do? What are his dreams for the future? Hell, you must show me every milestone that I have missed in a Pensieve. I can't wait to see your belly swollen with him, stroking our little bean lovingly due to some strong kicks and smiling like a true goddess due to the love that you feel for him. I can't wait to see you teaching spells and potions recipes to him, gazing proudly at him due to his fast learning ability and raw magical powers. I bet that he is the most talent potioner in the world and that you two will invent many potions at Prince Potions to cure the maladies of others.

"Regulus gushes about his grace in duels, his creativity in inventing his own spells – I even use one of his spells, Muffliato, to secure my business talks from prying ears – and his blissfully happy romance with Olivia Fawley. Reggie will be overjoyed to hear that Severus is his brother in blood. His best mate turns out to be his long lost brother, Reggie will be over the moon! He admires Severus for his undying ability to love despite his bad childhood experiences, his unyielding ability to fight for his loved ones, dreams and a Wizarding world in peace and his unbending ability to upstage his adversaries. I know from the many owls that I have received during Sirius' time at Hogwarts that he used to prank and bully Severus mercilessly with his friends. Believe me, I have lashed out more than once at him that Blacks aren't some cruel, merciless bullies who enjoy seeing other people wither in pain or cry out in tears. Sometimes, I fear that he is traumatized by his she-devil mum's abuse, thinks that he is worthless and evil due to his gene pool and screams for my attention by being the reckless Gryffindor bad boy and an insane loose cannon. I try to reassure him that his genes don't determine his personality. Even though his biological parents are sadistic, insane Voldemort worshippers, it doesn't mean that he will turn dark. But I sometimes fear nonetheless that Sirius destroys himself due to his fears to turn dark and succumbs to the infamous Black madness.

"I have arranged some therapy sessions form him during the summer after the Whomping Willow incident. Merlin, he has nearly gotten my son killed by a werewolf out of jealousy, boredom, teenage stupidity, and malice. I could rip off his head knowing that I could have never met my son if it wasn't for James Potter's actions. Thanks to the weekly talks with some magical therapist, the support of his friends and a new honesty between us, Sirius mental and emotional health has improved significantly over the years. Hell, he has even promised me to stop his bullying, apologize to Severus and focus on being a better person, but I still fear for him because he tends to cope with his trauma by partying and shagging around. It will be a tough blow for him to find out that his Slytherin nemesis and favorite bully victim is my biological son. It is a sore spot for him that he isn't a Black heir by blood. Naturally, I tried to dispel his insecurities and fears of being loved less by stating that I love him as my own, but the feeling that he isn't enough and I love Reggie more is still nagging in the back of his mind. I can only hope that he won't turn against Severus, detest him for being my son and restart the bad blood between them, for they are both fighting for the Order and the Order can't be divided and intermingled in inner trench warfare. In Sirius' logic, the fact that my one true love gave birth to Severus will only manifest that I love him more.

"Salazar, this is all so fucked up. I wish that we could use a time turner, travel back to the spring of 1959 and elope in secrecy before the wicked bitch's plans fucked our lives up. But this wouldn't be right for I wouldn't be happy in a world where not all of my three sons were alive. Thus, I will do everything in my power to get to know my son, establish a close father-son-bond with him and make sure that my sons won't rent each other. I have lost so much time with him and you, and I won't miss anything in his life from now on. You could never be a monster to me, Eileen. You gifted me with the vision of a happy future full of love, peace, and bliss in the middle of a huge family. I love you and Severus and can't wait to call him my son." Orion looked at Eileen with sparkling sapphire eyes, soothed her still trembling body with soft caresses and kissed her gently on her head. Thankfully, his honest words and the love in his eyes had calmed Eileen down somewhat so that her sobs had died down.

She gazed at him in wonder, tightened their embrace and breathed in his familiar scent. "Why am I so lucky to be loved by such a gentle and forgiving soul? I don't deserve Orion's comfort and love. I have kept his son's existence secret for nearly twenty years, surrendered my little prince to a life of poverty, abuse, and social awkwardness and lied to him about his identity. Hell, whenever he begged me with bitter tears to leave his bastard of a father after he had beaten my eye black again or locked away his magical books, I lied him straight in the face by stating that I couldn't leave Tobias because he was my one true love and would change for the better. Seeing his obsidian eyes flash with a mix of anger, pity, and disappointment and sensing his embrace loosen around my waist, I hated myself for my lies, unhappy life and cowardice. What mother sacrifices her son's happiness for her fears, hurt pride and deceit? I love my little prince with every fiber of my heart and want to protect him against all evil, but I have nearly driven him into a downward spiral. If Sirius had succeeded in getting my boy killed or bitten by a werewolf, would I have confessed to Orion that his son had gotten his brother killed or infected with lycanthropy? I want to believe that I would have come clean to my one true love then, crying that his firstborn son had killed his brother or turned him into a werewolf and accusing him of raising a monster. But I doubt it. Most likely, I would have buried my boy's corpse in silence and killed myself without disclosing my secrets. Or I would have tried to lessen the pain during his transformations with some potions and curse the Black boy with a wandless, nonverbal Unhappiness Curse. I'm such a pathetic coward, but I vow to make up for my mistakes by telling Orion everything about our son and showing him every milestone of his life before I will reconnect them. Severus will certainly try to cut me out of his life for my lies," a downcast Eileen continued to beat herself up in her mind.

But she gathered all of her strength, calmed her buzzing mind and escalating heartbeat and faced Orion with a teary-eyed smile. He wanted to welcome her back into his life and get to know his son. Oh boy, she would gladly gush about their little prince for some hours and give his dad a better picture of him before they dropped the bombshell of his true identity on him. Thus, Eileen took a deep breath, floated her mind with happy memories of her son and pecked Orion gently on the cheek. She uttered in a dazed, happy voice, "I can't fathom how I deserve your love, Orion. But I will accept it as my light in a pool of darkness and promise you to love you to the moon and back. Your anger at my deceptive acts is quite deserved and I can't thank you enough for your endless ability to forgive me for my secrecy and stupidity. Hell, if your son had succeeded in getting Severus killed by his lycanthropy-infected friend, I would have turned his life into a living hell before ending my life because I couldn't live without my little prince. I understand now that Sirius might have suffered from an identity crisis, childhood trauma, jealousy, and house prejudices, but it doesn't excuse his merciless bullying of our sweet boy.

"I will certainly give him a lashing when I see him next, for I should have defended our son ages ago. I realize that he is grown-up now, married to the love of his life and long past his Hogwarts years. But his bullying experiences will always scar his soul. And I can't forgive your son this easily for it. After I had lost you, Severus was my only hope in a world of despair. Merlin, I leeched on our little bump as the proof of our love and my only connection to you. I would monitor his heartbeat and movings with some wandless spells and talk to him about our romance. He was my little sunshine in a foreign world and I promised our little bump to protect him against the evil bitch Walburga. I cried myself to sleep missing you badly and caressing our little bump to feel close to you and be comforted. I sometimes dreamed that you would be next to me on my next doctor's appointment or teach our child how to fly gracefully through the air, but I knew that these dreams were only some pipedreams. I forced myself to move on from the Wizarding world, blend into the Muggle world and build a life for our lovechild and me. I deluded myself into thinking that marriage to Tobias Snape would be the solution to all of my problems. At the time we got close, I was working in a Muggle bookstore as a low-paid help, sleeping for low rent in his second bedroom and becoming his friend. I confessed to him that I was pregnant by another man and that I didn't know if I could return his love with all my heart due to my romance gone bad.

"He claimed in a sincere tone that he had fallen in love with me, would raise my child as his own and would provide a comfortable life in the suburbs of Manchester for us. He had a well-paid job as a Muggle engineer, treated me sweetly and fulfilled my every wish in my pregnancy. We married in the autumn of 1959 in a low-key ceremony to meet the expectations of society and look like the picture perfect little family. God, I choose Severus' name to show him my gratitude for his love and care for he had been the perfect, loving expectant daddy. He was obsessed with Roman history, thus I named our son Severus Tobias Snape. In retrospective, I regret that I haven't given him a name that continued the Blacks' tradition to name their children after constellations and named him after his childhood tormentor instead. I loved the name Corvus and would have been overjoyed to name our little prince Corvus Orion. But I couldn't tie him to you due to his name or looks, thus I decided to honor my caring husband by naming our son after him. Although I would have liked to have Tobias' support during my exhausting ten-hours-childbirth, I was grateful that the Muggle hospital St. Mary in Manchester didn't allow expectant dads into the delivery room because they would disturb their work with their dramatics. And it would have been wrong if Tobias had held my hand tightly and encouraged me with sweet words to cope with my pain and bring our little bundle of joy into the world. Thus, I was the first one to hold our little prince and calm his cries with gentle touches.

"He was born at 11.30 a.m. on a beautiful, snowy and sunny winter Saturday weighing 8lbs 2oz and measuring 22in and fell in love at first sight with his warm chocolate brown eyes, thick tuft of ebony curls and full rosy lips. Although he had inherited my porcelain skin, ebony hair and dark eyes, his angular facial features, curls, and plump lips looked like a carbon copy of your face. Thus, I used my wandless magic with bitter tears in my eyes to alter the physical looks of our prince. He couldn't start at Hogwarts looking like you with ebony hair and obsidian eyes, hence, I cast some glamours on him that could only be lifted by my magic or my death. I cast a slight bump on his little snub nose, slimmed the richness of his lips, straightened his curls and mellowed his angular facial features. It broke my heart to erase your resemblance from his face, but I couldn't help myself. I was terrified that the evil witch would somehow find us, see his resemblance to you and harm him as a baby or young student at Hogwarts. I rocked him gently in my arms singing an old Irish lullaby and basking in the warmth of his soft baby skin and the rhythm of his regular breaths. I sensed that he would turn out to be a powerful wizard because I felt a new light brighten my life and his magical energies trying to block my glamours. Merlin, I had been able to feel his strong magical core in my belly because I was able to perform wandless Levitation Charms more easily and Summoning Charms more efficiently during my pregnancy.

"When his tiny hand gripped my finger strongly and he latched on to my breast, I promised him to always protect him against all evil and love him to the moon and back. After the nurse had left to guide Tobias into the room to meet his son, I whispered inside his ear that his real daddy was a charming, kind and adventure-seeking man in the Magical world who loved him with every fiber of his heart. I vowed that we would meet him someday and that he could be his true self again when the danger was over. Tobias loved him to bits in his first months, showered him with affection and read bedtime stories to him. He changed his nappies and played Peek-a-boo with him, but when Severus was roughly four months old he started to fear him. A terrified Tobias had rushed into the kitchen stating that something was wrong with our baby for he levitated his cuddly toy, a dark raven that I named Corvus, through his nursery and lightened the stars on his crib mobile. He feared that he was possessed by a mean spirit and was shocked by my proud smile, happy chuckle and bold statement, "Nothing is wrong with him, Tobias. He only had his first outburst of accidental magic. He is going to be such a powerful wizard."

"Tobias accused me of going barmy when I informed him of the existence of the Magical world, mine and Severus' magical powers and the workings of the Ministry of Magic. He mumbled that magic didn't exist and that I wanted to prank him. He urged me to bring Severus to a mind healer and cure his possession. As a pious Catholic, he had read about the workings of evil demons and the devil and wanted to rescue our baby. When I accioed an apple into my hand to show him that magic was real, he went berserk and accused me of being possed by the devil, infecting our son with my crazy ideas and luring him like a black widow in my net of lies and evils. His heart turned ice-cold towards Severus and me and he started to numb his confusion, disbelief, and feelings of betrayal and inferiority in alcohol and cruel rantings. He forbade me to tell Severus stories of the Magical world because he realized that I believed in the existence of dragons, unicorns, fairies, and mermaids and entertained our baby with the adventures of the Magical world.

"When I informed him of the fact that Severus was a wizard due to the magical heritage of his biological parents, Tobias laughed into my face and uttered that my ex-boyfriend must have been a drug-addicted, crazy devil-worshipper who enchanted me with his delusions. I jumped up from my chair to defend you, called him a blind Muggle and shouted that you were a kind, intelligent and powerful wizard from an old magical family who would smile proudly at Severus' first outbursts of accidental magic. On that day, he backhanded me for the first time and insulted me as a good-for-nothing nutcase who bemoaned the loss of her perfect ex-boyfriend, couldn't even iron his dress shirts and was only good for a quick shag.

"In retrospective, I should have left him there, took my baby and packed my things and apparated to my parents. But I was a coward and deluded myself into thinking that Tobias would come around. He would accept the Magical world, start to respect me again and love our little Prince. I had been damn wrong about this assumption, for he wouldn't touch Severus and shout at him until he cried whenever he performed some accidental magic. He tuned my stories about Hogwarts out, lashed verbally out at me every week and beat me at least twice a month. He developed an alcohol addiction, resented Severus and used me as his house-maid and regular shag. I could prevent that he didn't hit Severus before he was five by taking the brunt of his beatings and sending Severus into his room whenever Tobias was intoxicated, but after Severus went into pre-school and scared his schoolmates by vanishing their pencils or making them trip when they insulted him for his greasy hair, tattered clothes and sourly demure, he dared to abuse Severus physically with some painful spankings by his belt, kicks in his rips and blows to his face. Naturally, Severus had noticed as a toddler that his father didn't like him and hurt his mum. Seeing his obsidian eyes without a lively spark and hardened to the world and hearing his timid, emotionless voice asking me why daddy didn't hug him and screamed at him and mummy for their magic, broke my heart. But I solaced him by stating that daddy was only mean to him under the influence of alcohol, would be proud at his keen mind and gentle soul soon enough and that he was my little magical prince who would rock Hogwarts with his magical tricks.

"Severus absorbed my fantastic tales about Hogwarts with sparkling eyes, listened adept to my teachings in Potions and learned every spell with a thirst for perfection. I swear that he pretended to mix his own potions with harmless ingredients he had found in the forest aged five, could cite every reaction of any potion ingredient aged seven and identify every constellation aged eight. I wanted to educate him in the workings of the constellations and universe to connect him to his Black heritage and he would gaze at the night sky with a self-made Telescopium every night before he went to bed and point Corvus out to me. Hell, he has inherited your love for adventures and interest in stones for he pretended to be a dragon keeper or natural scientist in a willow near the river or to detect signs from stones in a forest near our house. Besides his love for adventure and nature, he has also inherited your stubbornness and temper because he threw a temper tantrum whenever I forbade him to wander off into the forest or urged him to hide his accidental magic from Muggles.

"Our son can't handle to be surrounded by dunderheads, loves to read books and experiment with new potions as well as up his former bullies in duels and hates to be written off as a dark wizard due to his moody teenage years and see other people treated unfairly. He dreams to live a happy life with his one true love Olivia, invent many cures and useful spells and to bring down Voldemort. Basically, he is the perfect mix of our best qualities and has an endless ability to love. You will love him and he will be overjoyed to hear that he isn't blood-related to the abusive bastard Tobias, albeit he will rip into me for my lies. God, I'm terrified to tell him the truth. I fear that I will lose him forever." Eileen ended her speech on a somber note and looked with frantic eyes at her lost lover. How could she have messed up their lives so spectacularly?


	14. Chapter 13 – Heartbreaks can be mended by your one true love, III!

Living Room, Prince Manor, December 1978

Orion's sapphire eyes flashed with empathy, hope, and determination. He hugged Eileen tightly and expressed in his steady baritone, "I'm sure that Severus won't break all his ties with you, my love. Naturally, he will be livid that you lied to him about his true paternity and couldn't leave your abusive husband earlier, but he loves you despite your mistakes. You are his mum who told him fantastical tales about the Magical world, encouraged him to try out new spells and taught him how to mix potions. He admires you for your brilliance in Potions, your attempts to protect him against Tobias and the love and patience you have shown him in your parenting style. Naturally, I have noticed early on when Severus came along with Regulus to Grimmauld Place in his fourth year that he lived in poverty, had low self-confidence and hated his father. I cursed Merlin that he had dealt you, my own true love and brilliant potions' genius Eileen Prince, such a dark fate – being trapped in the Muggle world without access to your wand, in an unhappy marriage and bothered with financial woes. I wanted to question Severus about you, his hatred for his father and his interests in the Dark Arts, but I feared that Walburga would threaten the boy and forbid him to visit Grimmauld Place again if I showed too much interest in his personal life. Besides that, I had been a jealous, heartbroken fool at the time and ensnared in the belief that you cheated on me with this Muggle creep.

"Severus Snape was the living proof for your unfaithfulness and deceit in my eyes and I didn't want to open this festering wound by bonding with him. With his ebony hair, porcelain skin and onyx eyes he was the spitting image of you and it hurt to look at him and see what could have been mine. Thus, I have only interrogated him about his potions' projects, dueling style and school grades, praised him for his academic excellence and recommended him some interesting books in the Black library. In retrospect, I could beat myself up for not doing the maths, believing in your love for me and getting to know Reggie's best friend. I suspect that the she-devil Walburga did the maths and knew that Severus was my biological son because she tried to talk Regulus out of befriending a poor Half-blood and belittled Severus with hurtful comments about his tattered clothes, poor hygiene, and sour mood. But Reggie insisted that Severus was his best friend and that he would invite him to Grimmauld Place every summer for two weeks to study with him and improve his dueling skills. The boys trained in our dungeon every minute they got, although I could detect that Regulus's statement of honing their magical skills was only an excuse to spend some time with his best friend and have some fun during the hols.

"Since Sirius was spending two weeks every summer at the Potters to escape the animosity of his mum and plot new pranks with his Gryffindor mates, Regulus felt lonely and feared to be at the mercy of his mum's moods. He confessed to me that Severus spent many nights awake in the Slytherin common room training and inventing dark curses to use on his abusive Muggle father to protect his mum against him when he could perform magic outside of Hogwarts. He mumbled in a sad voice that he wanted to safeguard Severus of turning dark and allow him to have to weeks of academic studies, friendship and magical adventures at Grimmauld Place. In retrospect, I know that I should have demanded to get your address, see to your welfare and beat the Muggle bastard Tobias up, but I was too blinded by my broken heart. Besides that, I realize now that Regulus also wanted to escape his evil witch of a mum's Voldemort indoctrination, dark spell experiments and emotional abuse, for she wouldn't dare to utter them in front of a lowly Half-blood.

"When I asked Regulus why Severus hated his father so much he confessed to me that he was an abusive, magic-hating alcoholic who beat Severus' magical mum into submission and tormented his only son with hurtful mockings of his looks, livid rantings against his devil powers and painful kicks to his body. A furious voice inside my head screamed to track this Muggle bastard down and kill him on the spot, but I couldn't go to Azkaban and leave my sons in the care of their insane mum. Besides that, Regulus assured me that Severus' mum was able to protect herself from most attacks with some wandless magic and that she didn't want to leave this mean alcoholic because she deluded herself into thinking that she was in love with him. It broke my heart to hear my son confirm your betrayal to me and some malicious, vengeful part of my heart whispered into my ear to let you suffer in your self-selected hell. Merlin, Eileen, I'm ashamed to admit that some part of me wanted to see you suffer for your deceit. I convinced myself that I couldn't rescue someone who didn't want to be rescued and that you would survive your nightmarish life in the Muggle world. Your magic and my talisman were strong enough to defend you against the worst and let you see reason in the end. Why didn't your talisman work, my love? It should have been able to prohibit Tobias from raising his hand against you." Orion inquired with an incredulous look plastered on his handsome face.

"Oh Orion, your beautiful amber talisman couldn't protect me because Tobias had locked it away into a box with most of my magical items in our cellar shortly after Severus' first performance of accidental magic. He knew that it had been a gift of my ex-boyfriend and represented a pagan belief in magic, thus he ripped it from my neck and stored it into a box with the rest of my obscure, devil-worshipping items. I only gathered the courage to summon it to me via a wandless and nonverbal Accio, when I feared for my life. Thankfully, Tobias hadn't been able to detect it because I could keep it invisible for some hours. But my wandless magic wasn't strong enough to put it under a Concealment Charm forever, thus I stored it back into the box when Tobias was satisfying his alcohol addiction in a pub. In a way, I believe that your talisman saved my life because it softened the strength of Tobias's blows and transferred a new warmth and will to survive into my heart. I can't thank you enough for receiving Severus at Grimmauld Place for two weeks in the summer, for he returned every time with his obsidian eyes sparkling with a mix of determination, pride, and self-confidence. He managed to stand up against Tobias, frighten him with some tales of his newly learned defensive spells and his livid badass attitude so that Tobias only managed to torment us with his alcoholic slurs and meady fits a handful of times.

"I feared that Walburga would detect Severus' true paternity, but I hoped that my glamours would be strong enough to scatter her suspicions. Besides that, I had confunded the Muggle nurses into thinking that Severus was a preterm baby. Thus, his birth certificate states my week of pregnancy when he was born as 35. I thought that Walburga would conclude that I whisked the baby of Abraxas Malfoy away in the Muggle world or got pregnant by my Muggle lover, for you couldn't be the biological daddy of my son if he had been conceived in May. But alas, the wicked bitch knew all about faking the term of pregnancy and the paternity of one child, thus, I bet that she sensed straight away that Severus was your biological son. Salazar, I'm only glad that she didn't kill him on the spot or cursed him with a slow, fatal dark curse, because she feared to end up in Azkaban, break her son's heart and waste the potential of a promising follower of her beloved Dark Lord. I guess that she noticed his fascination for the Dark Arts, hatred for his Muggle father and anger at his Hogwarts bullies and Dumbledore and thought with a sly smirk that it would hurt us the most to lose our little prince to the darkness of Voldemort and his goons. I'm only glad that she is wasting away in a padded cell right now and can't harm Regulus or Severus.

"I thank you for your optimistic forecast of Severus' reaction to his true paternity, but I feel deep down in my bones that he will be absolutely livid with me and shut me out of his life for some weeks. Sure, he has forgiven me for my neglect of my duties as his mother and loyalty to the abusive arsehole Tobias due to his therapy sessions, support of his loved ones and endless ability to love and he is in a good place right now, but he won't be able to forgive me for the glamours I placed upon him and the lies I fed him since his childhood. He somewhat excuses my loyalty to his alcoholic father with my endless love for him, remembrance of our happy times and belief in the goodness of his heart as well as my depression. When he finds out that I never loved Tobias, knew that he was a creep deep down in my heart from the start and changed his true identity out of fear from the actions of an insane witch, he will hate me for the suffering I brought upon him. He will think that every word out of my mouth was a lie and every gentle touch of my hand a joke.

"He is very stubborn, has a quick temper and can hold grudges for some time. When he realizes that I could have whisked him away to his true dad, erased every resemblance out of his face that reminds him of Tobias and offered him a happy childhood full of love, happiness, and magic, he will curse my cowardice. I have robbed him of the chance to grow up with his dad as the Pure-blooded heir to two wealthy magical families and with his true looks. He will never be able to forgive me. But I will have to endure his anger and coldness, for I brought my misery upon myself with my lies." Eileen shed some heart-wrenching tears for her lonely, unhappy and angry little boy.

Orion wiped her tears away gently with his finger pads, cupped her face and uttered in a determined tone, "I will be there for you and stand by you regardless of our son's reaction. I know that we will turn his world upside down with our news and that his feelings of anger, betrayal, and hurt will be mostly directed at you. But I trust he will remember that you love him and that you only wanted to protect him against my she-devil of a wife. Hell, he will most likely be pissed that I haven't been able to detect her Love Potion and send her to hell despite her pregnancy because my love for you should have set my priorities straight. I should have left Grimmauld Place, whisked you away in our newly purchased cottage and married you in a low-key ceremony. I could have finished my training as a curse-breaker at Gringotts and worked there or in your parents' company Prince Potions as an expert for dark curses. I should have begged you to leave Abraxas and marry me instead.

"We both made huge mistakes that broke our hearts, trapped us in unhappy marriages and hurt our children. And we will have to endure our son's ire. But let's not waste our reunion on envisioning dark visions of Severus' reaction to the news of me being his dad. Let's fill it with tales about his toddler mischief, boyish adventures, and teenage shenanigans. I already know that he inherited my stubbornness, bad temper, and love for adventures and your thirst for knowledge, determination to help others and fierce ability to love. But what were his first word and his favorite toy as a toddler? Did he climb trees with his best friends and prank your neighbors? And did he curb his dark bad boy aura to win the heart of his newly-wedded wife, Olivia Fawley?" Orion asked with keen interest.

Eileen smiled at Orion, pecked him on the cheek and uttered in a pleasant voice, "Thank you for your positive energies and your childlike curiosity about our son. It warms my heart to hear that you want to know everything about him and see us in him." She summoned Severus' baby album with an Accio Severus' baby album onto her lap and opened the baby blue Muggle album that had the letters "Our baby" and four doves printed in royal blue on its cover. She tucked her legs under her body, moved closer to Orion and rested her head gently on his strong chest. Eileen smiled at him and opened the album, "As you can see the first page pictures his name, date and time of birth, birth weight and height as well as his place of birth. After Severus changed his name into Prince in his sixth year at Hogwarts, I altered his name in this album. He selected Severus Corvus Prince as his new name because he wanted to erase all ties with his abusive Muggle father and loved his cuddly toy raven, Corvus, to pieces. 'Vus' was actually the first word that left the lips of a giggling, eight-months-old Severus who let his favorite toy fly throw the air with magic. I have erased Tobias from all pictures with some Picture-Altering Spells, albeit he wasn't present in many to begin with."

Eileen turned over the page with a remorseful look and showed Orion the first picture of their son. It illustrated a slumbering newborn with a tuft of ebony hair and porcelain skin in a soft green onesie in the arms of a smiling Eileen. Orion brushed their son's face with a wistful look on his face and uttered in an emotional voice, "You look both so happy and peaceful in this picture. I wish that I could have been there to breathe in his unique baby scent and hold him in my arms with a prideful smile plastered on my face." Eileen squeezed Orion's hand and mumbled, "A nurse took the picture with Tobias' Muggle camera one day after his birth. I was so happy to hold our little prince in my arms, but I missed you like mad. I'm sorry that his baby pictures don't picture him with his true physical looks so that you can't see how much he resembles you." She pointed with her finger to the next picture and commented, "Here is Severus lying in his baby crib and gazing with wonder in his chocolate brown eyes at his constellation baby mobile. I took this photo directly after our stay at the hospital to capture his fascination with the stars. I guess he was a true Black from the start."

The next picture showed Severus lying in his maxi cosi dressed in a royal blue onesie and gripping his cuddly toy raven, Corvus, tightly in his hand. Orion grazed their son's tiny hand with a soft look in his eyes and listening patiently to Eileen's comment. "I bought the cuddly toy raven before his birth in a cozy Muggle baby store and selected it because I loved the name Corvus. In this picture, he is roughly two weeks old and you can detect his stubbornness here. He wanted to hold on to his favorite toy with determination and wouldn't loosen his grip around it. He has the old cuddly toy stuffed into a box in his New York department now and wants to gift it to his own children." Eileen browsed the album and stopped at a picture that pictured baby Severus in a white gown surrounded by his family – a gap erased the presence of Tobias beside Eileen - before an old Gothic church. Severus rested in the arms of his mum who was dressed in a crème midi dress and gazed lovingly at her child. Orion looked at Eileen incredulously. "You baptized our son? We are both irreligious people and pious Christians have hunted many of our ancestors down and burned them alive for their magical powers. How could you christen our little prince in a religion we both don't believe in?" He asked in a sharp voice and startled Eileen.

Eileen shook her head, hugged Orion's torso tightly and replied in a somber tone, "Tobias wanted to welcome Severus into his church and I couldn't deny him this wish. His Catholic belief was important to him and he wanted to teach his son in his beliefs. I confessed to him that I was an atheist and believed only in the circle of nature. But I went along with Severus' christening to blend more effortlessly in the Muggle world and express my gratitude to Tobias' family. In retrospect, I realize that I should have refused to christen him because Christians have hunted our people in the past and still preach that humans with supernatural powers are demons possessed by the devil, but I didn't see it like that in the past. Despite Tobias attempts to purify Severus' soul and turn him into a perfect Christian, Severus has never believed in the Catholic preachings and resigned from the church before he could be confirmed. I'm sorry that I didn't stand up for our magical roots there, but I thought that his christening would integrate our little boy quicker into the Muggle world." Orion caressed Eileen's ebony bob in understanding and focused his gaze on the next picture.

It pictured Eileen dressed in a forest green silk dressing gown and with her long ebony locks descended over her shoulders breastfeeding an eagerly sucking choral black haired baby in a cute light green onesie with little dragons. Severus latched on to his mum's exposed left nipple and played idly with her ebony locks. Eileen gazed at her son in bliss and supported his tiny head protectively. Orion was left speechless by the purity, happiness, and silence in this snap. And he longed to be there beside them, stroking their son's black tuft gently and gazing with love at his little family. Eileen broke the silence by stating, "Severus was such a calm, easy baby. He latched on to my breast without problems and I breastfed him till he turned ten months. He had a healthy appetite and I loved to entertain him with stories of the Magical world during his feedings. He would oftentimes play with my ebony hair or giggle happily and it warmed my heart to see him muster his environment with keen eyes. He smiled a lot and would sleep four hours in a row if you entertained him with magical bedtime stories or old Irish lullabies. Whenever he woke up screaming, you could calm him down easily by rocking him gently in your arms and singing his favorite Irish lullaby to him. It reminded me of my mum for she used to sing me to sleep with it and made me miss my loved ones like mad, but seeing our little prince slumbering with a smile on his face and the regular lifting of his chest, let me look positive into our future. In this picture, he is already two months old. How fast time flies for babies."

Eileen turned the page and laughed happily with Orion at the picture where their son was looking moodily at a cuddly toy tabby cat. He had his little eyebrows squeezed in annoyance and studied the cat with suspicious dark brown eyes. Tobias brushed Severus' adorable face. Merlin, he looked so much like Eileen whenever she spotted an expired potions ingredient in annoyance that it warmed Orion's heart. "Hell, in this picture our little sunshine looks just like you when you are annoyed at some dunderhead. I guess he has inherited your impatience. What did this cuddly toy cat do to him?" Orion asked with an amused chuckle. Eileen nudged him playfully in the side and replied with a happy giggle, "Well, Mr. Black, I don't know if our boy is the spitting image of me in this photo, for your face looks just like that whenever you see an airplane flying through the sky because you can't comprehend how something that big can be faster than your racing broom. I don't know where Severus' distaste for cats comes from, but he wouldn't play with his cuddly toy cat. And whenever he saw a cat as a toddler, he started to glare at it. I guess he is more of a dog person because Olivia and he have a cute one-year-old black Labrador retriever named Leo."

Orion pecked Eileen gently on her cheek and laughed, "Well, let's agree that he looks like a perfect blend of us two whenever we are skeptical about something. Which bad habits of our little Prince kept you up at night?" The Black patriarch asked with a twinkle in his sapphire eyes. Eileen enjoyed to see the happiness in Orion's eyes and replied with a cheeky grin, "Oh boy, Severus terrified me as a toddler with his urge to put everything that he found into his mouth. Salazar, I had to rush him into the emergency room because he had swallowed an earthworm as a sixteen-months-old and wouldn't stop to puke. Thankfully, the doctor could help me with some natural remedies for tummyache and nausea and reassured me that he would digest the earthworm with time. He really inherited your urge to test everything out and love for taking risks. As a three-year-old, he would race as fast as the wind on the pavement of our suburban zone, trip over some uneven stones and scratch his knees. I would hug him tightly to my chest, wipe away his tears and heal his scratched knees with a kiss and some wandless Healing Spell. Severus would kiss me gently on the cheek and whisper in a timber voice with huge, shining obsidian eyes, 'Mummy can heal everything with her magic. She is a super girl.' Well, I guess I couldn't mend everything with my wandless magic." Eileen intoned in a remorseful voice and turned the page to show him a picture where Severus levitated Corvus up and down giggling like mad.

She uttered in a faraway sounding voice, "I snapped this picture when Severus had one outburst of his first accidental magic in secrecy. He was roughly five months old and bounced Corvus up and down with his huge obsidian eyes twinkling mischievously. I had informed Tobias' about the existence of magic and the Magical world some weeks ago and confessed to him that Severus was a wizard. From this moment on, he stopped to be the hands-on-dad to Severus and resented our freakish powers. Our lives turned into hell and I regret till today that I didn't leave him on the spot." Eileen mumbled in a sad voice and shed some tears for their happy boy. Orion soothed her with gentle caresses on her back and whispered sweet nothingness into her ear. She expressed in a teary voice, "There aren't many more pictures of Severus in this album, because Tobias forbade me to snap pictures where our son was doing freaky stuff. Thus, I only managed to snap pictures of his first crawling attempts as a seven-months-old and his first walking attempts on wobbling legs as an eleven-months-old." Eileen pointed out two pictures that showed a chubby baby with a tuft of ebony hair crawling on a grey rug from the back and a happy smiling boy with a sly grin walking on wobbly legs dressed in a midnight-blue stars onesie from the front.

Orion grazed the tiny body of his son and his smiling face with his fingers and couldn't stop the tears swimming in his eyes. "I wish that I had been there to protect him and experience these milestones with you two. Merlin, I have missed so much in his life and couldn't console him when he felt alone and was in pain. I wish that this Muggle bastard Tobias had managed to drink himself into an early grave due to his alcohol addiction. But the bad guys sadly have the uncanny ability to survive like cockroaches." He uttered in a bitter voice, kissed the head of his one true love gently and brushed away his tears. He needed to be strong for his loved ones and asked in a timber baritone, "Do you have a picture of his first birthday celebration? I would love to see him blow out the candles on his cake with happily flashing onyx eyes." Eileen squeezed his torso tightly and showed him the last picture in this album. Severus sat in his high chair dressed in grey trousers and a dark blue jumper and gazed at the chocolate Bundt cake that was light with a single candle with sparkling onyx eyes.

He seemed happy in this picture, but his little face looked not as chubby as a toddler's should look. He seemed strangely grown-up. Eileen commented in a prideful voice, "I managed to bake a simple chocolate Bundt cake – which is his favorite cake till today – and decorate it with one candle when Tobias slept away his intoxication on our sofa. I sang 'Happy Birthday' to him, kissed him on his rosy cheeks and whispered into his ear that I loved him to the moon and back. I had lit the candle with my wandless magic and urged him with little short puffs to blow it out. But he only smiled cheekily at me and extinguished the flame with his magic. I embraced him tightly, took him on my lap and whispered into his ear that he would be a very powerful wizard. We managed to eat a piece of cake in silence and I gifted him with a green bobby car that he used to race through his nursery whenever Tobias was at work. Thus, you see that our little boy is indeed a very special wizard."


	15. Chapter 14 – Heartbreaks can be mended by gentle touches!

Master bedroom, Prince Cottage, Cornwall, December 1978

Severus nudged his newly wedded wife playfully in her naked side. Damn, Olivia looked like a forest nymph with her ruffled honey-blond curls, sweat-plastered skin and rosy cheeks. She had the well-shagged, satisfied and dazed aura of a beautiful woman who had been pleasured with multiple orgasms by her insatiable new husband. Severus couldn't help but smirk smugly at her. He was proud of his bedroom skills and had perfected them with the love of his life over the last years. He always aimed to pleasure her multiple times and explore her sexy body like the map of a new landscape. Sure, he knew every soft spot that made her moan in desire, cry out in ecstasy or lose her ability to speak in orgasmic bliss, but he always longed to explore something new of her body and make their love life exciting.

Olivia smiled happily at her husband and expressed in a playful voice, "Damn, I love how you always secure that I enjoy myself multiple times during our lovemaking. You really are a generous lover and overachiever between the sheets, my love. And I'm such a lucky woman to have bagged you. If the gossiping ninnies at our wedding knew what I passionate lover you are, they would have turned green out of envy. Merlin, I would have been forced to beat them away with a stick if they knew what is hidden under your robes. Thanks for always worshipping me like a queen, Severus." She gushed with sparkling honey-brown colored eyes and kissed her husband passionately on the lips. Severus embraced her naked body tightly, returned her kisses with vigor and played with her wild honey-blond curls. Salazar, how he loved to feel her perky breasts pressed against his muscular chest, her full cherry lips pressed upon his pale ones and her delicate fingers sunken in his broad shoulders. Sometimes, he was overwhelmed with the happiness, love, and bliss he felt in her arms. She felt like home and he couldn't wait to spend the rest of his life with her.

He deepened their kisses for some minutes, nipped gently on her bottom lip because it elicited a sensual moan from her lips every time that made him feel like the most powerful wizard of the world and entangled their tongues in a passionate dance because he was addicted to her natural taste. He would have loved to spend the afternoon in bed with her, but his stomach started to grumble and he knew that she must be hungry as well because they had spent the last four hours making love in their huge four-poster bed. And good sex really tired one out and burned a lot of energy. Thus, he regretfully pulled his lips away from his gorgeous wife and exclaimed in a cheeky, smug voice, "Well, my love, I'm lucky to be able to call such a true goddess and firecracker between the sheets my wife. You spurn me on to exceed your expectations in bed and satisfy your needs multiple times. You don't have to thank me for pleasuring you. It is my job as your lover and I love every minute of our lovemaking. I'm sure that the old ninnies of the Wizarding world would be shocked to death if they viewed our lovemaking sessions in a pensive. But they wouldn't admire me. They would only be jealous of your perfect body, vocal ecstasy, and unworldly flexibility between the sheets. I thank my lucky stars every day that I'm the only one who gets the privilege of seeing your body wither in pleasure and shatter in orgasmic bliss." He swatted her lightly on her naked butt and husked into her ear, "I would love to bend you over our kitchen table and have my wicked way with you again, but you have truly exhausted me and I need to eat something, Liv."

Olivia started to giggle, drove her fingers through his thick, sweat-plastered ebony locks and messaged his skull gently, "Well, Severus, I can't help myself but shag you as often as I can on our honeymoon. You are like a highly addictive drug and I long to be near you every minute of the day. And if I seem to recall everything right, you didn't complain about my insatiable carnal desires. In fact, quite the opposite, for you attacked me with your maddening kisses on our couch. So don't play the angel of innocence." She pecked him on the cheek and sighed, "But your famous ratatouille with rice sounds like heaven right now. And you are right. We really need to recharge our energies for tonight." Olivia kissed him gently on the lips, disentangled her limbs from his and stepped out of their comfortable, blue satin sheets covered four-poster bed. She gazed over her shoulder at her husband's stunning naked physique. She loved the abs and muscles swimming at the Merlin Institute Swimming Center had given him, although she loved her husband more for his brilliant mind, sweet nature and dark humor. And nature had been very kind to him in gifting him with a huge, thick cock that could drive her body to unimaginable pleasures. Rowena, she really was a lucky lady.

Olivia winked sexily at the love of her life and held out her hand to him. "Come on, Mr. Sexy Back, get up from the bed. If you want to spoil me with your self-cooked ratatouille, we need to get a shower first. And I can't wait to soap every centimeter of your skin." Severus took her hand, pulled her on his lap and husked into her ear, "I also can't wait to lather your sexy body and wild mane with your body wash and shampoo. It was a genius idea of me to create your own body wash and shampoo that sooth your skin, enchant your natural scent and make your hair shine. I love your honey, vanilla and roses scent and your argan oil and roses shampoo turns your wild curls into smooth, beautiful waves. I hope that I can bury my hands in them later tonight." He squeezed her naked butt, stepped up with her from the bed and carried his squealing wife into the bath-en-suite. They had tiled it with stylish taupe-colored floor tiles and cappuccino-colored wall tiles and equipped it with crème-colored sanitary china and crème-colored bathroom furniture. He loved it because it looked so warm and homey. Olivia was his life and he loved their unconditional, easy love. He loved the home and life they had built together and he couldn't wait to fill his brain with more happy memories of blissful days.

The Prince heir placed his wife on the bench in their huge rainforest shower and summoned their body wash and shampoo bottles with a non-verbal, wandless Accio. He caught her body wash and shampoo in mid-air and directed his bottles onto the bench beside his beautiful wife. Olivia smiled at him lovingly and bit her bottom lip sexily. "Damn, I'm such a lucky bastard to call this stunning, good-hearted and intelligent goddess my wife. I can't believe what a fool I have been at Hogwarts to notice her beauty this late. My obsession with Lily Evans really turned me into a blind, hormone-driven and pathetic drama queen. I'm so grateful that Olivia managed to beat some sense into my thick skull and made me see the true wonders of life and love," Severus thought in a dazed voice. He moved closer to his love, squeezed a hazelnut-sized drop of her shampoo into his hands and began to massage it gently into her hair. She sighed into his ministrations and moved her head in languished movement. "Oh, Severus. You really are a true master at head-massages. I know why I love your talented hands and fingers so much," Olivia uttered in a husky voice and caressed her husband's chest lovingly. Severus smirked at her, intensified his rubbing motions on her temples and enjoyed listening to her sensual, carefree moans. "I long to worship every square centimeter of your body, my love. And your voluminous, shiny honey-blond curls are one of your best features. They deserve to be truly worshipped," he whispered in her ear and lathered her wild curls with the foam of her shampoo.

Satisfied with his handiwork, he bent down to kiss her sweetly on her lips and squeezed a generous amount of her honey, vanilla and roses body wash into his huge hands. He started to lather her sexy, well-trained shoulders with her unique body wash and enjoyed listening to her quickened heartbeat and labored breath. "Damn, I can smell her arousal. I bet that she is dripping wet for me and I long to be inside her lovely, tight cunt. But I really shouldn't get distracted like that. Sure, our honeymoon is supposed to be a highly-pleasurable, adventurous lovemaking marathon, but I don't want to make it all about sex. Hell, being a randy, married teenager is my boyhood dream come true, but I don't want to reduce Olivia to a living sex doll. I know that she would be more than happy to enjoy some passionate shower sex with me right now, but my rational mind tells me that we both are too exhausted and hungry to make it into a mind-boggling, pleasurable experience. Besides that, I also enjoy to spoil her with massages, self-cooked meals and walks around the beautiful hills and parks of Cornwall. Thus, tune out your sexual thoughts, Severus, and focus on enjoying your time with your beautiful wife", Severus scolded himself in his mind and soaped his wife's breasts and toned midriff with lazy motions.

He smirked at his wife's flushed face and husked into her ear, "I would love to make love to you inside our shower now, Liv. But I realize that I would probably only be able to give you a poor performance because I'm exhausted from our hours in bed and really hungry. I promise to make it up to you tonight, my love. Although your moans and sexy body drives me nearly insane with desire and lust, I promise to cook you my famous ratatouille with rice to satisfy our growling stomachs. You know how smug I am about my powers in the kitchen." He whispered into her ear and gently soaped her beautiful vagina with his body wash. He could feel that she was wet for him and was tempted to bury his face between her legs to pleasure her orally, but he only hunched down on his legs to massage her labia sensually and enjoy her strong grip on his coal-black locks. He loved that he could arouse his wife with a few gentle caresses and that she always gave him the feeling to be truly desired. "Dear Merlin, I love that you are already wet for me, my sweet butterfly. I like how you are leisurely massaging my dark curls and make me feel loved, desired and cared for. But I fear that we must delay our sexual adventures till tonight." He kissed his trembling wife on her lower abdomen and raised his head to kiss her gently on her blood-red lips. He clung to her body and non-verbally activated the water stream of their rain-forest shower.

The feeling of her sweet lips pressed against his narrow ones, her slippery breasts pressed against his muscular chests and her hands roaming down his broad shoulders nearly let him forget about his promise to restrain from sex now, but he managed to gain control over his distracted mind by imaging Albus Dumbledore stumbling in pink, star-embedded boxershorts through the Great Hall. Severus directed the streams of his shower with a nifty non-verbal spell to wash Olivia's body and hair gently and rubbed her shampoo out of her smooth honey-blond curls. He nipped at her bottom lip gently, groaned due to the pleasure of feeling her gentle hands and the fresh water running down his spine and deepened their kisses. He could sense that she longed to touch his body and lather him with his body wash and shampoo, thus he pulled regretfully back from their mind-boggling kisses, turned the water stream off and accioed his body wash and shampoo. He handed them to his sensual wife with a sly grin and husked into her curls, "I can see in your eyes that you long to soap my body and massage my hair, Liv. You will undoubtedly pay me back for my affectionate caresses to your aroused vagina mere minutes ago. But please keep in mind that I need to up my game in the kitchen in some minutes. So, regretfully, no funny business is allowed, my sexy vixen."

Olivia smirked at him, bit her bottom lip sexily and whispered into his ear, "I promise to not neglect any part of your glorious body or lovely hair. I love every fiber of your body and I want to give your dark locks the best head massage of your life, my love. Although I must confess that I'm hungry and would probably not survive a passionate shag in the shower right now, I love to tease you. And you're sure as hell gonna get some payback for your cruel teasing." She winked at him, scoped something of his herbal shampoo – a unique blend of peppermint, lavender, and tea tree oil – into her hands, untangled herself from her husbands hunched body, stepped up from her shower bench and stretched herself on her tip-toes to reach her standing husband's beautiful dark locks. She urged him to bend his head slightly and look her straight in her honey-brown eyes because she loved to see his reactions to her ministrations displayed in his stunning onyx eyes. They looked like the dark night sky, but whenever Severus enjoyed something immensely or felt comfortable in his skin, dark-blue specks started to appear in a halo around his obsidian irises. Olivia massaged his shampoo gently into his wet locks. She kissed him lightly on the tip of his nose and smiled blissfully at his relaxed expression.

"Merlin, I really love this man from the bottom of my heart. I live to see him happy, carefree and enjoy himself. Sometimes, I can't believe how strong he is. He has risen like a phoenix from the ashes of his abusive childhood, teenaged bullying, and love-starved adolescence. I'm so proud and happy to call him my soulmate and can't wait to spend my happily ever after with him and our future children. I know that Severus is afraid of messing them up, but I tell him every time when the topic 'children' comes up that he is going to be an amazing dad. He is fiercely loyal, protective and caring. On top of that, he has the unique gift to love someone unconditionally and help someone nurture their talents and inspire their minds. I know that our children will love his bedtime stories because his entertaining tales in his smooth, velvet voice make everyone hang on his lips, and chase with him through forests to collect potion ingredients because his enthusiasm for potions and love for nature is infectious. I can't wait to see a little girl with blond curls and onyx eyes taking a piggy-back ride on his strong shoulders and an adorable little boy with coal-black hair and honey-brown eyes telling him animated tales of his childhood adventures," Olivia smiled at her relaxed husband, rubbed his shampoo into his scalp with slow, circling motions and sighed into his ear.

"I love that you can let yourself go in my company, Severus. I long to see your facial features relaxed in bliss or pleasure because I know how difficult it is for you to let your Occlumency shields down, trust other humans and live in the moment. It makes me feel special and loved to see that you trust me unconditionally and be the real you when we are together without any masks. Although I must confess that I can't take my eyes from your muscular shoulders and rock-hard abs – the swimming exercises at the Merlin Institut in New York and your running in the Central Park are really paying off – you have to realize that would love you to the moon and back if you had a beer belly or skinny frame. I have fallen in love with your skinny, self-destructive teenage self because I love your gentle soul, genius mind, and kind heart. You love me for my true self and always support me in every part of my life. You are my best friend, one true love and soulmate. Thus, I hope that you are prepared to be stuck with me for eternity, my love." She uttered in an emotional tone, put her hands around his head and kissed him passionately on the lips.

Severus returned her kisses with vigor, put his hands gently around her waist and husked between kisses into her ear with midnight-blue specks dancing in his eyes, "I will always love you, Liv. You are my lifeline, my light in times of darkness and my joy in times of dealing with utter dunderheads. You know that I love you unconditionally, and although I can't get enough of your sexy curves and smooth skin, you realize that I will worship every new curve and cellulite mark on your body. I love you for your pure heart, fierce friendship, and sunny personality. Merlin, I can't even list all the things I love about you without turning into a love-crazy, besotted fool. And you know how much I normally despise emotional fools. And damn, you really give the most erotic and amazing head-massages, my love." He breathed in her flowery scent and embraced her tightly. Olivia sighed into his caresses, smiled brightly at him and uttered in a playful voice, "Well, I live to make your dreams come true. And I know how much you enjoy my massages and I enjoy to witness your expressive responses. Thus, I can't wait to soap your glorious body with your body wash." She winked at him, put a generous amount of his unique body wash – a self-created mix of sandalwood, mint, and coconut – into her hands and hunched down on her legs. She started to scrub his muscular, strong, with dark hair dusted legs, went up to soap his fit tighs with gentle circular motions which made him moan loudly and caressed his beautiful, semi-erect cock with soft strokes which made him throw back his head in bliss and grab her wet curls lightly to stop her.

"Liv, please stop your thorough soaping of my privates, you little minx. I know that you can't get enough of my glorious cock and believe me he also can't get enough of your touches, but I can't afford to stand behind the cooker with a hard-on. And we don't have time for the funny parts right now. I promise to make it up to you tonight," he mumbled between heavy breaths and tried to regain control over his sexual urges by counting potions ingredients inside his head. Thankfully, his wife only bit her bottom lip and stroked his cock with a devious smirk once, before she moved on to lather his rock-hard abs and fit torso with his body wash. She stepped onto her tip-toes, massaged the cold substance onto his arms and whispered into his ear, "Well, Severus, I can't help myself but worship your impressive cock. You are aware that I'm totally in love with him and I can't wait to feel him move inside me tonight. Merlin, I'm only glad that the silly, shallow witches at Hogwarts didn't know what mother nature blessed you with. I'm sure that they would have lusted after you like wanton nymphes if they had gotten a peek on your cock. I'm such a lucky woman to have you all to myself." She kissed him gently on his cheek, firmly kneaded the sud of his body wash into his shoulders and back and turned their rainforest shower on with a subtle raise of her wrist.

Olivia gently rinsed the shampoo from his dark locks, locked her honey-brown eyes with his obsidian ones and attacked his lips with passionate kisses while she enjoyed the warm water crashing down on their bodies. She took care to scrub the body wash from his body by directing the stream of their shower non-verbally and wandlessly to the right spots and admired the suds running down his unique body. She loved to chill on their bed and trace the scars on his body with gentle caresses for they told his life story and showed what a brave, brilliant and strong man her husband was. They were like a map of his life and although Severus had been ashamed of them the first time she had seen them on his skinny teenaged body and tried to hide the red, angry ones from her view, she had gained his love by kissing every single one of them and mumbling that they were a sign of his strength and courage. Naturally, she had been enraged and heartbroken for her boyfriend because nobody deserved to have a torso full of crisscrossed faded scars, red, badly-healed cigarette burn wounds, white curse scars, and ragged cuts and cursed his bastard of a father and the Marauders, but she hadn't pitied him. She knew that Severus would have bolted if he had detected the tiniest bit of pity or disgust in her eyes, thus, she had tried to show him with her soft kisses, gentle touches and encouraging words that he was a brilliant, strong survivor whose keen mind, gentle soul, kind heart and lean body attracted her. She was madly in love with him, the real Severus Prince, some cruel scars couldn't turn her away from him.

Sure, she had wanted to search for Tobias Snape and throw him in jail for domestic violence against his wife and son as well as hunt down the narcissistic, cruel and self-centered Marauders, give them a tongue-lashing and hex them into next week, but Severus had uttered in a teary voice that they weren't worth the trouble, would get their karma in the end and he loved her for being such an empathetic, protective and lovely girlfriend. They had snogged like mad after his love declaration, engaged in a heavy make-out session and slept in a tight embrace on a comfortable bed in the Room of Requirement. Olivia came back from her trip down memory lane, smiled at her love and turned off the shower with a turn of her wrist. She admired the water drops that were running down her handsome husband's abs, stepped on her tip-toes to wring out his dark locks and intertwined her fingers behind his neck.

She gazed him with her brown eyes full of love and wonder in his obsidian eyes, pecked him on the lips and exclaimed in a cheery tone, "Well, this shower was certainly relaxing and enjoyable, Mr. Snape. I wish that we could shower together every day because I love to soap your sexy body, massage your stunning dark locks and admire the water running down your torso. Thanks for always making me feel loved and desirable, my love." Severus embraced her waist tightly, gently put a stubborn honey-blond curl behind her right ear and smiled at her. "Damn, Liv. Remind me again to shower as often with you as possible. I certainly love to cover your lovely curves in soap foam, snog you like a love-crazy teenager and enjoy your teasing messages. You know that I will always love and desire you. You are my soulmate and I can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together." He kissed her gently on her head and bend down to carry her bridle-style out of their shower.

He enjoyed hearing her delighted squeals and accioed two towels onto their bathroom counter. Severus softly placed Olivia back on the ground, enchanted the smaller towel to wrap itself around her head in a turban-like style and rubbed the bigger towel lightly on her wet body. After some minutes, he was satisfied with the dryness of her skin and wrapped the towel around his sighing wife. He smiled at her, admired her natural beauty and expressed in a cheeky voice, "I hope that you will choose to wear your sexy, skimpy black lace lingerie and your stunning, tight silver slip dress for dinner. It will be easier for me to tear these off your body later on." He accioed a towel for his hair, rubbed it dry and dried his body with a quick Drying-and Refreshing-Spell before he dressed with an easy Dressing-Charm in grey boxers, grey jeans, and a dark green shirt. He winked at his laughing wife and rushed out into the kitchen. He had to cook his ratatouille as fast as possible for his stunning wife after all.


	16. Chapter 15 – Heartbreaks can be caused by your mum's lies, I!

Kitchen, Prince Cottage, Cornwall, December 1978

Severus chuckled to himself as he accioed a chopping board and a sharp knife to chop the vegetables. He loved to cook, although he knew that it sounded weird for a Potions Master. Sure, cutting volatile ingredients into tiny bits and adding them to your potion in the right order sounded a lot like going through with your cooking recipe, but creating healing potions and cooking a delicious meal were to totally different arts. Hell, his mum who was a genius with potions and one of the key reasons for Prince Potions recent creativity in creating new potions had been rubbish in the kitchen until she decided to go into a cooking curse some years ago. She couldn't turn her creativity behind a cauldron into creativity in pans and pots and only managed to cook delicious meals with a lot of concentration, dedication, and love. Well, some of her horrendous cooking experiments might have been created due to her depression, unhappiness, and longing to create potions again. In retrospective, Severus suspected that Eileen hadn't felt the love and passion for cooking for an abusive bastard of a husband who had only given her enough money to cook simple, awkwardly mixed together dishes. Money had always been tight, thus Eileen had had to stretch the meat and balanced veggies in their meals. Besides that, she had always seemed so depressed while cooking and Severus had felt that she had missed her old life in the Wizarding world terribly. All her creativity, spark of life and happiness had been snuffed by her abusive asshole of a husband.

Severus couldn't be cross with her that she had decided to close herself off of all emotions and only function like a robot in these circumstances. Sure, on her good days when Tobias had been away on one of his alcohol and gambling filled trips in the Manchester bars, Eileen had managed to entertain Severus with fabulous stories of Hogwarts and cook him a delicious meal, Chicken Tikka Masala, one of his favorite meals till today because it reminded him of beautiful days spent exchanging tales of magical places, creating potions recipes and chilling in front of the TV watching one silly comedy in the arms of his mum. On these days, Severus had felt truly loved by his mum and optimistic about their futures. Sometimes, he had prayed to Merlin before bed to free them from Tobias and grant them a life full of magic, happiness, and love. Severus shook his head. He shouldn't be reminiscing about his unhappy childhood and his mum's past depression. Merlin, he shouldn't think about his mum on his honeymoon anyway. Yeah, he loved his mum and had learned to forgive her for staying with the abusive ass Tobias for so long thanks to his therapy, but she really shouldn't be a topic on his honeymoon. Shaking off his haunted past, Severus focused his mind on happier thoughts. He would spoil his beautiful wife with the best ratatouille of her life and make love to her for the rest of the day.

He still couldn't fathom his blissful happiness. Sometimes, he awakened from horrible nightmares where Olivia was attacked by a dark figure and hurt badly. He would be glued to the spot with some spell, unable to protect his love and forced to watch her wither in pain while a haunting voice mocked him for his weakness. Every time, his dreams were hunted by a vision of losing his beautiful wife and being unable to keep her safe, he startled awake with a heart-wrenching sob, searched frantically for the body of Olivia beside him, embraced her tightly and tried to slow down his hammering heartbeat. Olivia would move closer to him, soothe him with gentle caresses on his back and whisper sweet nothingness and reassuring phrases – "It was only a bad dream, love", "I will never leave you", "I will always love you" – in his ear. She would tuck his sweat-plastered locks behind his ear, kiss him gently on the lips and be there for him. Salazar, Olivia was the light of his life and he was in bliss every minute he could spend with her. Thus, he vowed to never hurt her or diminish the spark in her eyes. He would always strive for making her happy, feel loved and protected. Severus scolded his buzzing thoughts to concentrate on his task at hand for now. Olivia loved his ratatouille with rice and was famished after their rounds of passionate lovemaking. He should really up his game and enchant her with her favorite meal in some minutes.

Hence, the Prince heir looked around in their light, homey kitchen for his herbs and veggies. They had designed their kitchen according to their wishes when they decided to turn Prince Cottage into their home in Great Britain last summer. Olivia loved to let her creativity run wild in interior design and decorate every square meter of their home. She always managed to surprise him with her keen eye for colors, materials and tasteful decoration. They were both driven by the desire to turn Prince Cottage into a modern, friendly and light-flooded home where they could chill out after stressful terms at University and spend lovely days. Thus, they had decided to paint the walls as well as the ceiling in a light lilac in their open kitchen and lay out a warm oak vinyl floor. With the help of some nifty home design spells, they had removed a wall and installed huge light grey mirror finish windows in their new spacious living-eating-area. They had transfigured the old white country house kitchen into a stylish light grey mirror finish kitchen whose highlight was undoubtedly the kitchen island in the middle of their open kitchen where a warm oak worktop provided space to chop ingredients and hosted their cooker. On one side of the island, they had room to store their cutlery, pans, and pots, on the other side of the island, they had room to stow away their china in three display cabinets.

They had chosen to install a high-grade steel exhaust hood above the cooker and a light grey mirror finish kitchen unit for the fridge, baking oven and storing of food on the right side of the kitchen island. Behind the kitchen island, two light grey mirror finish floor units were placed that hosted a high-steel sink, dishwasher, and bin system as well as cupboards for Olivia's beloved Tupperware, electric devices and cooking utensils. On top of the first floor unit, they stored their coffee machine and tea cooking area, whereas they stowed pots with fresh herbs from their herbs garden on top of the second floor unit. Above the second floor unit hung a light grey mirror finish wall cupboard with three glass doors where they stored their glasses and cooking books. Severus inhaled the scent of the fresh rosemary, thyme, sage, and basil. He loved to stand behind the cooker and gaze on the beautiful outline of their patio and garden. Olivia had created a lovely garden full of rose bushes, hydrangea, chrysanthemums, and honeyworts as well as cherry and apple trees that were kept in order by a house-elf whenever Severus and Olivia weren't at Prince Cottage. Severus loved to relax on their patio lounge furniture with his beautiful wife resting on his chest and cuddling him like her favorite teddy bear under a sky full of stars.

Strangely enough, he also enjoyed hosting a relaxed barbecue for their close friends and family on their rattan patio furniture filled with laughter, entertaining stories, and delicious meals. At Hogwarts, he had loathed social events and spending time with his friends lounging around in the Slytherin Common Room. He had always feared that the Marauders would make fun of his worn-down clothes, hex his foods or bully him with cutting insults. In Slytherin, he had always felt out of place in a room full of snobby Pure-bloods who talked boastfully about their newest racing brooms, their luxury vacation trips or their parents' cruel regime over their house-elves. Sure, Regulus had always tried to make him feel accepted by engaging him in a debate about the newest defense spells or the rights of magical beings in the Magical world as well as testing his skills at Wizarding chess, but Severus could feel the pitiful gazes of some rich girls, the cruel smirks of some bratty dunderheads as well as the mocking glances of some wannabe heirs at the back of his skull. He had always felt uneasy in the company of his peers and only his new-found status as the Prince heir, improved clothes, hygiene, and self-esteem as well as romance to Olivia Fawley had turned him into some kind of a new admired and respected young academic with potential. Sure, his Slytherin yearmates had still labeled him as the awkward, moody Half-blood who had managed to invent potions and create new dark spells, but they had respected him more for his accomplishments in Dueling and Potions. Some had thought that they could lure him to the dark side and turn him into a promising asset for the effort of their Dark Lord. But thankfully, Olivia and Regulus had rescued him from a dire fate as one of Voldemort's killing and torturing lackeys.

Severus shook his head again in disbelief. Salazar, he had really been some reckless, depressed and love-sick fool in his teens until he had fallen hard for Olivia. He searched the storage cupboard that kept a cool temperature thanks to some nifty charm for his veggies – onions, zucchinis, eggplants, sweet pepper, tomatoes, and garlic – but noticed with a groan that he hadn't stored any zucchinis and eggplants. He scolded himself in his thoughts, "Merlin, how daft can I be to promise my famished wife a ratatouille when I don't have all needed vegetables? Classic. How am I going to spoil her now? I could summon a Prince house-elf to ask him to buy some vegetables in a near store or gather something from my mum's greenhouse, but I don't want to pester them with my demands now. They have worked hard enough for our wedding and I can't summon them every time I forget to buy something. Hence, I will have to apparate to mum myself." He let out an audible sigh, send his Patronus with his message – "I'm at mum's fetching some eggplants and zucchinis for our ratatouille. I will be back in a heartbeat. Love, Severus" – to Olivia, accioed his coat and concentrated on the location of the greenhouse at Prince Manor.

As a legitimate heir, he could apparate in any place of the lavish Prince Manor because its family magic recognized his signature. He had signed in Liv into the wards and given her permission to apparate in and out of the old Manor because she belonged to his family now and would be the mother of his future children. In the distant future, they would inherit Prince Manor with its beautiful garden, spacious greenhouses, and old-money interior design. Sure, his mum had tried her hand at updating the interior design of the Manor in her wing and giving it a more modern touch, but his grandparents had been set on their classical, sophisticated interior design. Thus, the Manor screamed old-money, history and wealth in every pore of its walls. Severus still couldn't believe that he belonged to the wealthy, estimated Prince dynasty because he had always had to live with little money and in a tiny, down-ridden working-class shack. Don't get him wrong, he didn't have anything against hard-working people and admired families for making do with little budget, but he loathed abusive alcoholics like Tobias.

Severus opened his eyes and breathed in the earthy scent of his mother's greenhouse. He guessed that she had stocked it with vegetables, herbs, and fruits to always have fresh, healthy and pesticide-free food at hand. After she had reunited with her parents, she had strived for finding a balance in her potions work and coming to terms with her romance gone bad. Severus suspected that working in nature with plants and trees, dirtying her hands with earth and nurturing something with her magic, was some kind of therapy for her that mended the deep scars in her soul. His mum tended with so much love to her vegetables and fruits, always having a sparkle in her eyes and a content smile on her lips, that it warmed his heart to see her so happy working magic. Eileen Prince was guilt-ridden by her decision to stop practicing magic, stay in a marriage with an abusive alcoholic for so long and give in to her world of despair, violence, and depression without giving a fight and protecting her son. Severus knew that her failures as a mum hunted her in her sleep and that she would always carry them as deep regrets. Hell, sometimes he wanted to vent at his mum for being the passive victim in her marriage for so long and letting him grow up in an environment of fear, screams, and beatings, but his therapy sessions and their joined family therapy helped him to see things from her perspective and acknowledge the love she felt for him.

Eileen Prince would never be a first candidate for mum of the year but he nevertheless loved her to pieces and couldn't imagine a life without her. He knew first hand that mistakes, fears, self-esteem issues, and regrets were only human and forgiveness one of the most admired virtues. But he had chosen to forgive his mum for her past mistakes, love her demons and virtues as well as move on to a happy future because she would always be his mum - the woman who had nurtured him with her love as a babe, read stories to him as a boy and taught him everything she knew in Potions. Severus scanned the greenhouse for the zucchinis and eggplants, discover them to his left and harvested them with some simple charm. He only needed two medium-sized zucchinis and one medium-sized eggplant for his ratatouille and stored them into a transfigured paper bag. He looked with a smile on his face at the ripe vegetables and fruits. His mum really was a genius when it came to gardening spells and nurturing plants in a healthy way - pesticide-free and environmentally sustainable. Everything gleamed in the most natural colors and screamed passion for Herbology. Severus knew that his mum had developed some of the gardening spells herself, registered them at the Ministry and strived for using a minimum of water and natural potions. He smiled like a silly goon. He was so proud of everything his mum had accomplished after her return to the Wizarding world, how hard she worked at improving her mental and physical health, making amends with her family and repairing their strained relationship.

Sometimes, when he observed how easily she handled wandless spells nowadays, how focussed she worked on potions and how effortless she moved through the Wizarding world with a self-confident walk, he nearly sobbed out of happiness. Secretly, he loved the most how tightly she hugged him, how easily she told him "I love you" and how naturally she could laugh with Olivia. He knew that he sounded like a little boy who would give everything for some blissful hours with his loving mum, but Severus didn't care what some dunderheaded male peer would think about his close, affectionate relationship with his mum. They could brand him a "mummy's boy" as long as they liked if it meant that he had a healthy, based on trust, honesty and unconditional love, relationship with his mum. Severus knew that he had promised to return to Liv as soon as possible and if he was being honest he longed to kiss her lips again and admire her beauty in her silver slip dress. But he felt strangely nostalgic today and it sounded rude in his mind if he popped into Prince Manor to harvest some vegetables of his mum's greenhouse without saying hello to her.

Olivia and he had been moved to tears by her touching speech at their wedding, although he could sense that his mum had been strangely melancholic on his wedding day. Sometimes, it almost seemed like she missed someone at her side and was bombarded with painful memories. Severus suspected that she was feeling lonely and missing a special someone at her side who could love her unconditionally and make her happy. Merlin, Severus wished that this special someone would pop into the picture. His mum was only in her late thirties and she deserved to have some happiness in her life. He had noticed that she wore an expensive-looking amber ring and medallion since she had returned to the Wizarding world, but whenever he asked about it her eyes turned misty and she only answered in a broken voice that she had lost someone special to her a long time ago. Severus guessed that she had lost contact with her first love and wished that he knew more to arrange a meeting between them. His mum was clearly in pain and filled with regrets about this mystery man and he could only assume that he might also feel deeply for her and be inclined to clean the air between them. Perhaps, he would also long to reconnect again and give their love a second chance. But playing Armor wasn't Severus style and every time he tried to pry his mum for more about this mystery man, she would start to occlude and change the topic. He knew that she was especially lonely in the days before Christmas and stressed-out with planning their perfect family Christmas dinner at Prince Manor, thus he decided to surprise her with a short visit and cheer her up with a Butterfly Charm.

Hence, he concentrated his mental eye on the image of the hall in front of the living room at Prince Manor, because he suspected that his mum was busy making the finishing touches on her Christmas recipes. In a blink of an eye, he appeared in the art-decorated hall and approached the living room with a Soundless Spell under his steps. He wanted to surprise his mum after all and not spoil his fun. As he approached the room on tip-toes, he suddenly heard deep male laughter. His mum had male company? Perhaps a colleague from work or an old school friend from Hogwarts? She had reacquainted with some of them and loved to catch up. Severus smirked hopefully. With some luck, it even was the mystery man and they were enjoying a cozy tea-time date. He didn't want to ruin everything for his mum by barging into the room like some nosy, crazed dunderhead. Sure, he heard the alarm bells shrill in his head to check this man out, get a glimpse at him and sneak into his mind to make sure that his intentions were noble and he wasn't such an abusive bastard as Tobias, but he wouldn't overstep his mum's privacy like that. She might not have the best track record with men, but he trusted her improved character judgment and new self-esteem to make a sound choice. Plus, she seemed to really like the man judging by her natural laughter. A tiny voice inside his head screamed at him to stay for some minutes and await if his mum still squealed in happiness, but he felt like a Peeping Tom and a little queasy by imaging his mum snogging a man like a teenager on their couch. Thus, he decided with a smile on his lips to return to his waiting wife.

But before he had imagined their beautiful kitchen in his mind, he heard his mum's panicked voice – "He will hate me. He will never be able to forgive me, Orion. I will lose him." Orion? His mum was enjoying a cozy date with Orion Black on her couch? Severus didn't even know that the two had been friends. Orion had always observed him with a strange look in his eyes whenever he had visited Regulus at Grimmauld Place and had only asked after his spell creations and work in Potions. He had guessed that Regulus' dad didn't like him because he was only an impoverished Half-blood, but when he had voiced his uneasy feelings regarding his dad to Regulus, he had only chuckled at him and answered in a bitter voice that his dad acted cold to most strangers and buried his emotions behind a thick barrier due to a broken heart. Could his mum have broken Orion's heart? Could he be the mystery Mr. X? Severus didn't know but he shuddered to think that he would be forced to spend Christmas dinners with Sirius Black in the future and be some kind of step-brother to him. Merlin help him if he would be forced to play nice with his past bully.

Besides that, who was this mystery "he" that would hate her forever? His mum sounded distraught when she uttered these words. And judging by the pitiful sobs and Orion's mumbled soothing words, he could detect that his mum was terrified of losing one of her loved ones. But who could it be? The only males that mattered deeply to her where her dad and him. And he couldn't imagine a reason why his granddad or he could ever hate her. His granddad loved Eileen to pieces, she would always be his little princess and he would always love her. Nothing could destroy this love. And his mum must know that he would never hate her. He loved her with her flaws and strengths and would never cast her out of his life. What had brought up these irrational fears in his mum's mind? He wanted to barge into the living room, comfort his mum and reassure her that he could never hate her when he heard Orion's deep baritone – "Eileen, my love. He will never hate you. He is our son. We will explain everything to him and start fresh as a family." "Our son?" Severus froze. "Do I have an elder brother I'm not aware of? Did my mum bear Orion a son out of wedlock shortly after Hogwarts and give him up for adoption? Did couldn't be true! Surely, she would have uttered something to me, if I had an elder brother. What were these two talking about?" Severus mind tried to find a logic explanation for "our son", but his mind came up blank whenever he tried to make sense of these words.

After some minutes, his mum raised her voice and screamed in a heart-wrenching tone, "Orion, you don't know Severus like I do. He will never forgive me that I have hidden his true identity from him. He will hate me! I let him grow up with an abusive Muggle as a dad while his real dad built up a successful enterprise in the Wizarding world. Merlin, Severus is a Black." His heart stopped. He lost the function of his hands and let his paper bag with the zucchinis and eggplant fall with a loud crash on the marble floor. He felt light-headed. His mind kept replaying the words "Severus", "real dad", "a Black". A panicked voice screamed in his head, "No, this can't be right! I must have misunderstood something. Perhaps, I'm only having an insane dream. Orion Black can't be my biological dad. I don't look anything like him! Mum would have never lied to me my whole life. She has promised in family therapy to always be honest with me. I'm not a Black! I'm a Half-blood with the misfortune of inheriting half of my genes from the bastard Tobias Snape. My birth name is Severus Tobias Snape for Merlin's sake! I don't know what trick my mind is playing on me, but it isn't funny.

"And what if it is true? Mum raised me hidden away in the Muggle world, lied about my true paternity and cuckold the Muggle bastard Tobias because she had gotten pregnant by the married Black heir? Salazar, Sirius would be my brother by blood! No, this can't be right. Mum would never betray me like this! She loves me. She wouldn't deny me to know my true roots and grow up with my real dad." Severus started to pull on his dark locks. He wanted to shut up his inner voice. He slithered down on the ground and noticed in blurry colors, how Orion Black rushed out of the living room with a bewildered look in his eyes. When he spotted him on the ground, a deep pain reflected in his sapphire eyes, Regulus' familiar eyes. He approached him in fast steps, hunched down in front of him and grabbed his frantic pulling hands. When he gazed in his sapphire eyes and felt his calming touch on his back, he knew without a doubt that Orion Black was his biological dad. His mum had lied to him. His whole life was a lie, he was some joke. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed how his mum covered her mouth in shock and started to sob uncontrollably. But he didn't care. He felt numb and only registered like a robot how Orion Black forced him into an awkward embrace. He wanted to scream and wrench himself away from his strong arms but he was too exhausted to act. After some minutes in this hug, his heart shattered into million pieces and a deep-red, boiling anger rushed through his veins. How could his mum do this to him? He loathed her.


	17. Chapter 16 – Heartbreaks can be caused by your mum's lies, II!

Hall in front of the Living Room, Prince Manor, December 1978

Severus breathed in the masculine scent of Orion Black. On some level, it felt good to be embraced tightly by someone who seemed to care for him and was blood-related to him. The bastard Tobias had only shown him how worthless he was by beating him into a bloody pulp. Merlin, he had never before in his life felt the comfort of an elder male adult. On another level, he wanted to pull away from Orion Black's embrace and scream like a heartbroken boy at his mum. As his cheeks were graced by bitter tears and his heart ripped from his body, Severus felt numb. "Salazar, I wish that I had the energy to rip into the lying bitch that calls herself my loving mum. How could she be such an evil, cunning cheater? Hell, which witch in her sane minds gets pregnant by a married, esteemed Pure-blood heir and hides away in the Muggle world? Which cruel woman lies to her son – whom she vows to love from the bottom of her heart – his whole life, changes his physical appearance and lets him grow up in an abusive environment? Perhaps, the monster Tobias had found out early on that she had cuckolded him with a bastard child and decided to let him pay for his mother's treachery with his fists? But what hurts me the most is that she couldn't be truthful to me in our therapy sessions. She vowed to me that she loved me, regretted her past sins and would from now on be honest with me. Honest. My ass. She had kept on lying to my face, refused to talk about her first love and acted as the perfect mum at my wedding when she knew that I haven't even married Olivia with my true face. How could someone be so cold and dishonest? I hate her."

Severus let out a desperate sob. He didn't hear the positive words Orion Black mumbled into his ear. He didn't register his mum's desolate screams and her crumpled form on the floor. He could only hear a mocking voice calling out in his head, "Come on, boy. You always felt that something wasn't right with you. Nobody could love you, care enough for you to gift you a kind smile and look over your mismatched clothes when you were a child. You have always been the poor, ugly odd one out. A joke and a freak. And I guess that you understand the real meaning of these emotions now. You are a Black bastard. Some mistake who only came into this world because your wanton mum forgot to take her contraceptive potion when she carried on her illicit affair with a married man. I bet that she would have aborted you if she didn't have to risk losing her magic and sanity about it. Black and Potter were right. You are Snivellus, an ugly freak who was never meant to exist. Your whole life is a lost cause." Severus put his hands on his ears. He didn't want to listen to this cruel voice anymore. "Make it stop, make it stop. I can't take it anymore," he screamed in an anguished voice inside of his head.

Although he could still feel Orion Black's soothing caresses on his back, they hadn't an effect on him. Every minute felt like an hour and every breath hurt like hell. He tried to keep his toxic emotions in check with his Occlumency shields, but they failed him. He was too bloody exhausted and emotional to call on his safety net. Only thinking about the beautiful face of Olivia managed to expel the toxic mocking voice. He could almost hear her sweet voice inside of his head. "Severus, don't listen to any mocking comments about you. You are such a strong man. You have battled the lure of the Dark Arts, overcome the bullying of the Marauders and improved your mental and physical health by taking care of you. I love you, regardless of how the lifting of your glamours will change your appearance. You are my soulmate, you aren't some joke or freak. If you don't know who you are, I can tell you who you are: You are a compassionate, witty and big-hearted young man with a brilliant mind and revolutionary ideas, who works on improving the lives of many people with new healing potions, security spells, and communication charms. Hell, you work as an intelligence consultant for the Order and fight for the destruction of Lord Voldemort and his evil henchmen beside people who tormented you at Hogwarts and didn't give a shit about you. You really deserve a medal for your ability to forgive and work constructively with former enemies. The fact that you turn out to be a Black won't change you completely. Sure, your feelings of betrayal, hurt and despair are only human and if I would be in your shoes, I can't tell how I would have reacted. I promise you that I will always be by your side, listen to your ventings about your parents and emotions of being lost. But I won't tolerate that you turn your hurt feelings into self-loathing. I can't stand beside you when you rip into yourself for nothing, because I love you and can't see you hurting like this. Keep your head down, calm down your escalating heartbeat and ask your parents some questions. Perhaps, everything isn't like it seems."

Reassured by her words, he took a deep breath and stopped his crying. "Thank you for comforting me, … Mr. Black," he uttered in a distressed voice. Severus cursed himself for his unsteady voice and his hesitation in addressing Regulus' dad. Merlin, he knew that he technically was his "dad" now too, but he regarded him more like a sperm donor. He hadn't given a fuck about him and basically abandoned him before his birth. He didn't deserve to be called "dad". Severus had never had a dad and he wouldn't need someone now, at almost nineteen years old. He chuckled bitterly to himself. As a little boy, he had sometimes dreamed of making Tobias proud of him, being such a good boy that he stopped his beatings and looked at him with eyes full of love. In his darkest moments, he had desperately prayed to some deity to turn Tobias into a man who loved to play football with his son, teach him how to ride a bicycle or entertain him with funny stories. These were the dreams of an abused, lonely little boy. He was all grown up now and he didn't need the love of a father figure anymore. A vindictive voice inside his head wished that Orion Black would feel immense pain when being addressed as "Mr. Black" by his son. He knew that he was very close-knitted with his sons and loved them to pieces, even Sirius who put this love to test by running away from home, being a cruel bully and renouncing his family. Merlin, Sirius probably knew that he was his bastard brother and treated him especially bad for besmirching the reputation of the Blacks.

Severus knew that every Pure-blood family had their secrets and their juiciest secrets were the stuff of many gossips. His mum's illicit affair with Orion Black would have certainly been the talk of the day. And he was sure that Regulus' insane mum could count back nine months. She has most likely been aware of her husband's affairs, tolerated them with hurt pride and vowed to make the life of his bastard son a living hell. It wouldn't surprise him if she had somehow managed to drive his desperate mum into the arms of Tobias Snape, shackle them to a life of violence and poverty and incite Sirius to bully his bastard brother without mercy. Salazar, she certainly had always acted cold-hearted to him, questioned Regulus' ability in making friends by getting acquainted with a poor Half-blood and looked at him as if she had bitten on a lemon. Somehow it pleased him a little to know that his mere presence must have caused her emotional torture. She deserved hell for how she abused her sons. And if he had been a little jigsaw piece in giving her hell, he was proud of himself.

Regulus. Reg was his new-found brother. Merlin, this discovery was mind-blowing and the only plus side to finding out that he turned out to be the bastard son of Orion Black. He loved Regulus like a brother. And to find out that he was his brother not only in spirit but also in blood, put a loony smile on his face. He could feel Orion Black's eyes burning into his skull. He chuckled darkly to himself. His new-found "dad" must be questioning his mental sanity right now and pitying himself for gaining a loony son. Well, he could certainly live with shaking up Orion Black's feelings a little bit. Regulus had rescued him from becoming a soulless, self-loathing Death Eater and succumbing to the allure of the Dark Arts. Liv and he had installed new hope in his dark life, opened up his mind to the wonders he could work with his magic and potions and supported him to become a self-confident, level-headed and happy young man that had defeated his demons. Hell, Regulus was the best man at his wedding, his partner in crime whenever he decided to let the child in himself come out and his soundboard whenever he bemoaned his lack of progress in developing a new spell. He was his dearest friend and he would sacrifice his life for him. To find out that he was his brother by blood touched his heart.

Severus didn't believe in the theory of blood bonds that existed between close relations. The Prince heir was the last person in the Wizarding world, who believed in esoteric or obscure teachings like divination, emotional magic or blood bonds. But he couldn't deny that he had always felt a close bond with Regulus. When the timid, reserved Black heir had approached him in his second year in the Slytherin Common Room for the first time to play Wizarding chess, he had been skeptical because he was the little brother of Sirius Black. But he had noticed in the first weeks of his Slytherin housemate at Hogwarts that he was strikingly different from his elder brother. Whereas Sirius Black loved to bully other students, play pranks on them or ridicule them for their second-hand clothes and be the life of every party, his younger brother studied with his Slytherin yearmates in the library, discussed fantastical beasts with them in the Common Room or helped his brother's victims to pick up their books after the Marauders had vanished and observed every party in the Slytherin Common Room with a calculated gaze. Severus had been surprised when the Black heir had approached him in his fashionable, new Slytherin robes and asked him if he wanted to play some games of chess with him. Although his paranoid inner voice had urged him to chase him away with an ugly sneer and mean words because the little brother of Sirius Black could never be interested in being his friend, his gut instinct had told him to trust him and engage in a game of chess. Like Regulus, he had also loved to observe his Slytherin housemates and noticed that Regulus seemed to feel lonely and lost at Hogwarts. He could use a friend who wasn't a dunderhead and loved to discuss academic theories, hence he had accepted his offer with a timid smile and they had become as close as thieves since then.

Severus smiled a little. He could count on Regulus in every situation of his life. Liv and he would help him to cope with his mum's lies and keep him sane. He awkwardly looked around in the room. Orion Black sat beside him on the floor with a worried look in his sapphire eyes and his face turned into a hurt grimace. The Prince heir could almost feel the anguish and longing in Orion's heart. He knew that Orion Black normally kept his cold demeanor and buried his real feelings behind a mask. Severus suspected that he was a master in Occlumency like him and wanted to protect himself by keeping up walls inside of his mind. But from the teary, blue eyes and distressed look on his face, he could detect that he had also been unable to keep his Occlumency shields up. He must have also been overwhelmed by seeing his son and witnessing his meltdown. "Like father like son. I guess you have more in common with your father than you thought, Severus," a voice that sounded suspiciously like his grams muttered. Severus sighed deeply. He knew almost nothing about Orion Black. But he suspected that he didn't want to learn about the ugly truth behind his handsome façade, for which honorable wizard cheated on his wife, impregnated his lover and didn't give a shit about his bastard son? Merlin, whereas his mum and he had suffered under the hands of the bastard Tobias, scrapped together moldy bread to have something to eat and had to hide away their magic, Orion Black had chilled out at Grimmauld Place playing the doting dad to his little sons, throwing expensive parties with ample food and drawing up laws in the Wizarding community. According to Regulus, he had the audacity to act like a heartbroken, unhappy man who indulged into alcohol in his weakest moments, although it now turns out that he had lived a dual life and seduced Pure-blooded heiresses in his bed only to throw them away when they got pregnant by him. Merlin, who knew how many half-siblings he had?

Severus sneered, stepped up and pierced Orion Black with a loathing look. As dignified as possible, he urged him with his gesture to stand up from the floor and look him in the eyes. He wanted that Orion Black could see the pain and disgust in his obsidian irises. He wanted to cut him to the quick. A tiny voice inside of his head whispered to him that he should give Orion Black a chance to explain himself, make amends for his past sins and get to know him. But he didn't care about Orion Black's feelings or his history right now. Severus only wanted to express his hurt feelings before he started to burn up from the inside. Thus, he attacked him in a cool voice, "Well, how the mighty have fallen. The patriarch of the noble and ancient house of Black couldn't keep his hormones under control to not father some bastards. Tell me, Lord Black, how many Pure-blooded heiresses have you seduced with some lofty tale of love and promise of a happily ever after, fucked without giving a shit about contraceptives and tossed aside like some used milk bottle when they turned up pregnant at your door? I bet that you have urged them to abort the mistakes, paid them some hush money to disappear and moved on to the next warm body. You most likely wouldn't have cared that they risked their physical and mental health as well as magical powers by aborting your unwanted bastards. You make me sick. Perhaps, Sirius knew from the start that I was his bastard brother and bullied me mercilessly to show me that I will never belong anywhere in the Wizarding world."

In the corner of his obsidian eyes, he noticed how shocked and anguished Orion Black seemed to be by his accusations. Remarkably, he kept his temper under control and looked like a beating puppy at his son. Merlin, this damned sapphire eyes – a carbon-copy of Regulus' eyes – tugged at his heart, especially as they seemed to flash with hurt. Bevor he could be influenced by the emotions in them, Severus continued to rip into his "dad". He expressed in an ice-cold tone, "Did you know that he and his friends claimed that I hadn't the right to exist? They turned my life at Hogwarts into hell to the point that I debated to waste my life away in alcohol and the Dark Arts. Have you applauded him for nearly getting me killed by a werewolf? I bet it would have solved some of your problems and kept up the picture of the noble Lord Black if I had ended up as werewolf liner. As a silly, lonely boy, I always wished to have a dad who was proud of me, loved me and played football with me. Hell, I started to loathe my alcohol-loving, money-gambling, and family-battering "father" and wished that he would end up dead. To know that mum and myself suffered at the hands of a monstrous, magic-hating man because my sire was too cowardly to deal with his affairs and take responsibility, kills me. Your dreams of being one happy family are a pipedream. I will never forget how you abandoned me to live the life of the admired Pure-blood politician. I hope that you understand my message, Mr. Black. You will never be my dad, genetics be damned!" Severus ended his speech with a cruel smirk. He wanted to demonstrate to Orion Black that he loathed him and that rather hell would freeze over than him playing the grateful long lost son.

He was satisfied in seeing the hurt inside of his eyes. He knew that Olivia would rip into him for being so cruel to his "dad" without knowing the bigger picture, but his pent-up emotions needed to be hammered inside of his "parents" thick skulls. Instead of addressing his venting with a speech of his own, Orion looked sadly at him and walked to his mum Eileen who was still curled up into a broken-down, crying heap on the floor. Orion Black hunched down on the floor, embraced his first love tightly and whispered sweet nothingness into her ear. "Eileen, my love. Severus is only hurt. He doesn't hate us from the bottom of his heart. Don't fret he will be able to forgive us and understand our history with some time." Severus observed in shocked silence, how Orion kissed his mum on her temple, gathered her in his arms and helped her up from the floor. Severus guessed that she was near on catching pneumonia on the ice-cold marble floor of Prince Manor and stumped by the care in Orion's actions and words. He uttered a Warming Spell, rubbed gently on her arms to give her some comfort and calm her down and pulled her tightly in his arms. His mum seemed to be in a stupor for she clung desperately to Orion and let him move her around like a doll. Sure, Severus had vowed to loathe his mum for her lies and betrayal. But he couldn't deny that something inside of him still longed to embrace her and make her feel better. Besides all the deceit, she was still his mum. If he looked at his parents now, he couldn't deny that they seemed to care deeply for each other and give each other comfort. Perhaps, he had gotten their past history wrong and they weren't some desperate teens high on lust, secrecy, and recklessness?

But Severus didn't listen to his doubts. He wanted to mirror his dark emotions and burn any bridges behind him. Thus, he took a deep breath and laughed in their faces, "How touching the love is that you are displaying for each other. Salazar, you really are some first-class actors. Perhaps, you can win an Oscar with your next performance. But you can't fool me. I wished that you had displayed so much care for each other twenty years ago. If you had, my body most likely wouldn't be riddled by endless scars and I would have had a chance to grow up in a loving and magic-practicing family. But wait a minute, I would have never had the chance at a happy family because daddy dearest already had one! Merlin, mum. How could you be so stupid to fell for his lies and get impregnated by a married man? I knew that you could be easily manipulated judging by your dealings with Tobias, but I would have never guessed that you threw yourself at a married man! Was the sex, the risk of being outed and barred from the Wizarding High Society as well as a taste of teenage rebellion really worth all the pain, heartache and despair that birthing a Black bastard brought you? I guess that I can be lucky that you didn't abort me as soon as possible to get rid of your mistakes. But you altered my physical appearance, let some alcoholic Muggle play my sire and lied to me my whole life. Daddy dearest is wrong, Eileen! I will never forgive you. It disgusts me to even luck at you. Have fun discussing some pipedreams of a happy family, deluding yourself into thinking that I will love you again and raking up your romance gone bad. But please think about contraceptives this time. I wouldn't condemn my biggest enemy to be the unwanted, ugly oddball!" Severus screamed in a heart-wrenching tone, ignored the pleadings of his mum – "Severus, please. … Don't go. Listen to me. … You are the best thing that happened to me. … I love you." – because they were all lies and turned around to rush out of the Manor. He needed to see Liv, feel her love and warmth, and be assured that someone loved him.

He sped up his steps, but suddenly he couldn't move. "Fuck, Orion Black has hit me with a wordless Pertificul Totalus. I can't move my limps and only stand here like an ice-sculpture for as long as he doesn't lift the spell. That fucking coward. First, he shags around, doesn't give a shit about the consequences and erases his bastard son from his life. Then, he attacks me when I have turned my back to him to make me listen to their lies," Severus seethed like an enraged bull. Against his will, he was magically turned around and had to face the raised wand arm of Orion Black. He could feel dark energy swirling in the air and see the anger in his sperm donor's eyes. Hell, Severus feared that he would have hexed him into oblivion if his mum wasn't clutched to his chest. His mum looked heartbroken and like she wanted to jump down the next bridge. Some heartstrings tugged inside his chest and a tiny voice mumbled inside of his head to back off from his reckless path and listen to their story. Sure, it gave him some sick satisfaction to see them so heartbroken, but deep down, he knew that his destructive path would only end in pain. Besides that, he currently wasn't in the position to tromp on his mum's ripped-out heart. Orion Black certainly wouldn't react nicely to that.

The Black patriarch looked at him with a sad gaze, tucked some stubborn dark-brown curls behind his ear and uttered in an emotional voice. "Severus, don't break your mum's heart like that. She loves you endlessly. I won't stand silently beside you and let her be branded as some harlot and bad mum. I understand that you are hurt, need to vent at us and paint us in the darkest colors. Believe me, I wish that I had a time-turner to travel back to 1959 and act differently. But it isn't in my power to play with time to gift you a happy childhood. You were never unwanted, Severus. You were always loved and your mum hid you away in the Muggle world to protect you. You have to believe us." Severus could detect the honesty in Orion Black's eyes and decided to listen to his story. If it all was some web of new lies to tug on his heart and make him feel pity for them, he would know it.

He signaled Orion Black with a motion of his hand to go on. "As Regulus best friend, you are aware that my estranged wife is some evil, insane and abusive harpy. She convinced your grand-father, Arcturus Black, to marry me off to her to gain more power in our family. There was never some love lost between us. I loathed my Dark Arts obsessed cousin early on and resented a marriage between us. But I had to obey my father's engagement deal to not be disowned by him. My heart always belonged to your mum. You see, Eileen and I are old Hogwarts sweethearts. She helped me to find out who I was and loved me unconditionally. We were in a secret relationship and I vowed that I would only marry her. I gifted her with an engagement ring and a talisman that would always protect her. Only with her love, support, and honesty, I managed to fulfill my dream of becoming a curse breaker and stand up to my father. We planned to marry in the summer of 1959 in an intimate wedding ceremony and live a happy, simple life in a cottage I had bought for us. I didn't care if my father disowned me as the Black heir and threw me out on the streets. Only my love and happiness counted. But we had under-estimated the evilness of the cunning bitch Walburga. She convinced my dad of moving our wedding up to the spring of 1959 and developed some dark scheme to keep me in her clutches. I wish that I had been smart enough to move out of Grimmauld Place early enough and call off our wedding regardless of the headlines it would produce. But I needed time to transfer my money into a secret account, buy our cottage and draw up some contracts that would ban Walburga from gaining assess to the Black fortune. Somehow, Walburga got wind of my escape plan and condemned Eileen, you and me to unhappy lives. She blackmailed Eileen, threatened to poison me and staged some photos to destroy our happiness. Hence, Eileen needed to whisk you away into the Muggle world and keep your existence secret to protect your life. She has done everything out of love, my son."


End file.
